Retreatment after loss of follow-up in adolescent and young adult patients living with HIV: a case-control study.
Camila Moraes Garollo Piran, Alana Vitória Escritori Cargnin, Mariana Martire Mori and 3 others
PMID 42307345WHAT IT FOUND
Adolescents and young adults with HIV who did not practice religion were more likely to return to care after dropping out.
Those who were female, used alcohol, lived in institutions, were diagnosed at counseling centers, or had missed appointments were less likely to return.
Key findings
01Not practicing religion was associated with a higher chance of returning to HIV care after loss to follow-up.
02Being female, using alcohol, living in an institution, being diagnosed at a Counseling and Testing Center, and missing appointments before dropout were associated with a lower chance of returning to treatment.
03The study used medical records from a single specialized service in Brazil to compare adolescents and young adults who returned to care with those who did not.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
The study relied entirely on secondary data from medical records, which may be incomplete or inaccurate. The sample was drawn from a single specialized service in one region of Brazil, limiting generalizability to other settings. The cross-sectional nature of the case-control analysis cannot prove causation; it only identifies associations. Some variables, such as religion, are complex and may be confounded by other unmeasured psychosocial factors like stigma or community support.
Declared interests
The study was financed in part by CAPES (Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior), a Brazilian government agency for personnel training. No commercial conflicts of interest were declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the association between not practicing religion and higher retreatment as evidence that religion causes dropout. The authors suggest stigma related to HIV in religious contexts may be a factor, but this is an observational finding from medical records, not a tested intervention.