You are viewing the site in preview mode

Skip to main content

Table 1 Demographic characteristics of patients initiating treatment in the Limbe ART programme, 2002 to 2005

From: Retention in an antiretroviral therapy programme during an era of decreasing drug cost in Limbe, Cameroon

  All patients
[n(%), N = 2920]
Patients enrolled before 1 Oct 2004
[n(%), N = 1487]
Patients enrolled after 1 Oct 2004
[n(%), N = 1433]
Age category*    
   < 30** 723 (25.8) 357 (26.0) 366 (25.6)
   30+ 2081 (74.2) 1017 (74.0) 1064 (74.4)
Median age, years (range) 35 (0.5-73) 35 (1-73) 35 (0.5-73)
   Female 33 (0.7-73) 34 (1-71) 33 (0.7-72)
   Male 38 (0.5-73) 38 (1-73) 37 (0.5-73)
Sex*    
   Female 1815 (62.3) 886 (59.6) 929 (64.8)
   Male 1104 (37.7) 600 (40.4) 504 (35.2)
Median follow-up time, months (range) 6.2 (0.03-46.3) 15.8 (0.03-46.3) 3.4 (0.03-14.5)
Person-years follow up 2462.5 1925.6 536.9
Patients receiving treatment    
   ART naïve 2864 (98.1) 1458 (98.0) 1406 (98.1)
Patients previously on ART who were
transferred from other centres
56 (1.9) 29 (2.0) 27 (1.9)
Occupation*    
   Gainfully employed 2044 (74.3) 969 (73.2) 1075 (75.3)
   Unemployed/dependent 706 (25.7) 354 (26.8) 352 (24.7)
Marital status*    
   Married 1166 (42.0) 577 (42.9) 589 (41.1)
   Single 1207 (43.5) 570 (42.4) 637 (44.5)
   Previous marriage 404 (14.5) 197 (14.7) 207 (14.5)
Residence by distance to ART clinic*    
   Residents in Limbe town 621 (22.1) 311 (22.7) 310 (21.7)
   Residents < 40 km from Limbe 801 (28.6) 395 (28.8) 406 (28.4)
   Residents 40-150 km from Limbe 788 (28.1) 384 (28.0) 404 (28.2)
   Residents > 150 km from Limbe 454 (16.2) 217 (15.8) 237 (16.5)
   Residents from Douala, 74 km away*** 139 (5.0) 64 (4.7) 75 (5.2)
Means of payment for antiretroviral drugs*    
   Entirely paid by programme or employer 87 (3.7) 48 (4.1) 39 (3.4)
   Paid by self, family or partly by other 2241 (96.3) 1134 (95.9) 1107 (96.6)
  1. *Sample size smaller due to missing values
  2. ** 26 clients were < 5 years old; 20 clients were 6-10 years old; 47 clients were 11-19 years old
  3. *** Patients residing in Douala with regular transport on paved roads and may have had other ART opportunities Abbreviations: ART (antiretroviral therapy)