The conference discussed in detail the five aforementioned barriers to testing and other reasons for late presentation. The final results will be published and widely disseminated in

2010 and beyond. However, at present HIV in selleck chemicals Europe recommends: the initiation of audits to evaluate whether testing is being conducted in situations where there is an obvious indication (and if not, why not?); This article has been written as part of the HIV in Europe Initiative and special recognition is given to the HIV in Europe Steering Committee. Conflicts of interest: None. Sources of funding: The HIV in Europe Initiative has received unrestricted funding from Gilead Sciences, Merck,

Tibotec, Pfizer, Schering-Plough, Abbott, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol-Myers Squibb, NVP-BEZ235 GlaxoSmithKline and the Swedish Research Council. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. Authors’ contributions: JVL drafted the initial manuscript in collaboration with DR. RJ, MW, AP, JH, JG, TC, AS and JDL have provided input into the development of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. “
“Data from observational cohorts may be influenced by population structure and loss to follow-up (LTFU). Quality of care may be associated with participation in cohort networks. We aimed to study the participation, characteristics and retention rates of immigrants in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study (SHCS). We compared enrolment over time (1996–1999, 2000–2003 and 2004–2008) and LTFU between individuals from different geographical regions. In 2008, we performed Staurosporine a cross-sectional survey to investigate the proportion of individuals not participating in the SHCS but who were in care at SHCS institutions. Predictors for LTFU were analysed using

Cox proportional hazard models, and those for nonparticipation using logistic regression. A total of 7840 individuals entered the SHCS during the observation period. The proportion of immigrants increased over time, especially the proportion of women from sub-Saharan Africa, which increased from 21 to 48% during the observation period. Overall LTFU was 3.76 [95% confidence interval (CI) 3.58–3.95]/100, with the highest hazard ratio in men from sub-Saharan Africa (2.82/100 patient-years; 95% CI 2.30–3.46/100), compared with men from northwestern countries. Other predictors for LTFU were age <30 years, lower education, injecting drug use, and higher baseline CD4 cell counts. Participants taking antiretroviral therapy had reduced LTFU. The survey showed that 84% of HIV-infected patients in care at SHCS institutions were enrolled in the cohort.