{"doi":"10.2147/hiv.s346951","title":"Factors Associated with Linkage to HIV Care Among Oral Self-Tested HIV Positive Adults in Uganda","abstract":"BACKGROUND: HIV oral self-testing (HIVST) was rolled out in Uganda in 2018. However, data reported by public facilities show that less than 60% of oral self-tested HIV positive adults were linked to HIV care. This study set out to determine the factors associated with linkage to HIV care among adults with positive HIV oral self-test results in Uganda. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out at Nabweru HCIII and Entebbe Hospital in central Uganda. The study reviewed medical records from January 2019 to May 2020 and successfully invited 144 self-tested HIV positive participants for the quantitative interview process. Data on socio-demographics and health-related characteristics were collected. Bivariate and multivariable analysis was used to determine the factors associated with linkage to care. RESULTS: The proportion of participants linked to HIV care was 69.6% (100/144). The majority of the participants were female (71%), with a mean age of 29 (±8) years. Participants within age groups of 31-35 years and 41-60 years, who used directly assisted HIVST, disclosed their HIV status to their sexual partners, are ready to start ART, do not consume alcohol and having a supportive sexual partner were more likely to be linked to HIV care. Single participants, separated/divorced, female, fear unfair treatment after HIV status disclosure and those who fear ART side effects were less likely to be linked to HIV care. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that less than 70% were linked to HIV care. It also shows that HIV status disclosure, readiness to start ART, type of HIVST used, fear of ART side effects, and being divorced/separated negatively associated with linkage to HIV care among self-test HIV positive adults. There is a need for HIV programs to address the above factors to improve linkage to HIV care to realize the national targets towards the UNAIDs 2035 goals.","journal":"HIV/AIDS - Research and Palliative Care","year":2022,"id":291817,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":2,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.877,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2022-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":970259,"name":"Winters Muttamba","orcid":"0000-0001-7154-2964","position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":976011,"name":"Laillah Nassaka","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":976012,"name":"Damalie Nakyomu","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":780624,"name":"Geoffrey Taasi","orcid":"0000-0001-5268-6583","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":495162,"name":"Sarah Kiguli","orcid":"0000-0002-8764-4161","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":976013,"name":"Roy William Mayega","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":976014,"name":"Aggrey David Mukose","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":937939,"name":"Mudarshiru Bbuye","orcid":"0000-0002-8635-2925","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":19,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-19T00:30:42.221508Z","pmid":"35221726","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}