Transitioning from child to adult-oriented HIV clinical care for adolescents living with HIV in Ethiopia: results from a retrospective cohort study

INTRODUCTION: Ethiopia has one of the largest number of adolescents living with HIV (ALHIV). As these adolescents reach adulthood they need to transfer from pediatric to adult-oriented clinics. Clear implementation guidelines for transition are lacking and factors associated with successful transition are inadequately investigated. Our objective was to describe the rate and age of transition from child- to adult-oriented care and the factors associated with transition success among ALHIV in selected health facilities in Ethiopia. METHODS: a retrospective cohort study of adolescents was conducted in eight health facilities in two regions of Ethiopia: Addis Ababa and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples´ Region (SNNPR). The study was embedded within a broader study originally aimed at studying clinical outcomes of adolescents. The proportion of adolescents who transitioned was calculated and the association between baseline characteristics and transition was assessed by bivariate and multivariate analysis. RESULTS: of 1072 adolescents, 8.7% transitioned to adult care. The most frequent age of transition was 15 (range: 10-22). Multivariate analysis generated two significant findings: adolescents from Addis Ababa were more to likely transitioned than adolescents from SNNPR (aOR: 2.18; 95% CI=1.17-4.06; p<0.01), as well as disclosed adolescents compared to those not disclosed of their HIV-status (aOR: 4.19; 95% CI=1.57-11.98; p<0.01). CONCLUSION: transition occurred in less than 10% of participants, in a wide range of age, indicating a lack of implementation policies regarding the transition process. Thereto, we found that adolescents from Addis Ababa and those disclosed of their disease, were more likely to transition. Further studies are needed to better understand factors associated with transition success.