Predictors of mortality in HIV-infected patients starting antiretroviral therapy in a rural hospital in Tanzania

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 2 Hazard ratios of mortality according to baseline variables in HIV-infected patients starting ART in Tanzania

	Unadjusted		Adjusted^a
Baseline variables	HR (95% CI)	P	HR (95% CI)	P
Gender (male vs. female)	1.73 (1.15–2.61)	0.009	1.60 (1.00–2.57)	0.053
WHO stage (IV vs. I–III)	2.71 (1.64–4.49)	<0.001	1.46 (0.81–2.65)	0.210
ART start year (vs. 2003–04)
2005	0.55 (0.35–0.87)	0.010	0.64 (0.38–1.08)	0.091
2006	0.30 (0.17–0.56)	<0.001	0.40 (0.19–0.83)	0.014
BMI (vs. ≥ 18.5 kg/m²)
<16	4.17 (2.29–7.60)	<0.001	2.12 (1.06–4.24)	0.034
16–18.4	1.60 (0.82–3.10)	0.168	1.27 (0.62–2.61)	0.516
Hemoglobin (vs. ≥ 12 g/dL for women and ≥ 13 for men)
<8	22.7 (5.40–95.7)	<0.001	9.20 (2.05–41.3)	0.004
8–9.9	13.5 (3.28–55.9)	<0.001	7.50 (1.77–31.9)	0.006
10–11.9 (10–12.9 for men)	6.21 (1.46–26.5)	0.014	4.03 (0.93–17.5)	0.063
TLC (vs. ≥ 1.2 × 10⁹/L)
<0.6	3.58 (2.05–6.24)	<0.001	1.72 (0.87–3.39)	0.117
0.6–1.1	1.10 (0.69–1.74)	0.699	0.79 (0.48–1.32)	0.371
Platelet count (<150 vs. ≥ 150 × 10⁹/L)	2.23 (1.40–3.57)	0.001	2.30 (1.33–3.99)	0.003

^aCox proportional hazards model adjusted for all variables listed in the table.
HR, hazard ratio; CI, confidence interval; ART, antiretroviral therapy; WHO, World Health Organization; BMI, body mass index; TLC, total lymphocyte count.