367P
ACCESS TO INITIAL CARE: RETROSPECTIVE REVIEW OF INITIAL VISITS TO A REGIONAL HIV CENTRE
JS DeForest1, J Snider2, HB Krentz3, MJ Gill3
¹Calgary Health Region, CTN; 2Calgary Health Region; 3Southern Alberta Clinic/University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta
Objective: Newly diagnosed HIV patients who do not access care shortly after their diagnosis tend to underutilize health resources, negatively impacting disease progression. In order to identify strategies to increase initial contact to our HIV clinic, we examined which subgroups of the regional population miss or delay their initial visit.
Methods: We examined the sociodemographic characteristics of all newly diagnosed HIV patients living in southern Alberta who initiated HIV care at the Southern Alberta Clinic. Characteristics included gender, education level, residence, country of birth, and most likely exposure category. Univariate and bivariate analysis (significance level p<.05) was used to compare patients who attended their initial visit versus patients who missed one or more visits.
Results: Overall, 1 of 5 patients missed their initial visit as scheduled. Patients who were IV drug users, are Aboriginal, or had less than a high school education missed their initial visit more often (p<.05) than other groups. Women and patients living in rural areas did not show any significant differences in attendance compared to men or patients living in urban areas. Patients whose most likely exposure category was MSM had the highest proportion of attending the initial visit (p<.01). Interestingly, patients born outside of Canada (eg immigrants, refugees, others) also missed significantly fewer initial visits (p<.05).
Conclusions: Initiating early HIV care is very important in disease progression. Certain subgroups underutilize early care at higher frequencies than others. Strategies are needed to identify ways to increase access in these groups by looking at referral processes, education with family physicians, and outreach clinics.