by Harriet Fridah Adhiambo, Jayne Lewis-Kulzer, Edwin Nyagesoa, Sarah Gimbel, Eliud Akama, Dorothy Mangale, Lina Montonya, Ingrid Eshun-Wilson, Sarah Iguna, Everlyne Nyandieka, Elizabeth Bukusi, Lisa Abuogi, Thomas Odeny, Maya L. Petersen, Elvin H. Geng

Gaps in HIV RNA monitoring persist globally impeding the ability to determine clinical progress and outcomes. This study systematically evaluated provider (e.g., guideline non-adherence), system (e.g., laboratory error) and participant-level (e.g., refusal) drivers of missed viral load (VL) monitoring measurements among people with HIV in Kenya. Adults aged 18–65 years were followed across five health facilities in Kenya as part of a clinical trial (NCT#02338739) where HIV RNA monitoring was done routinely. Instances of missed VL despite being indicated per Kenyan guidelines were identified. An algorithm for assessing root causes of missing HIV RNA was developed and generalized linear models estimated the risk ratios (RR) for participant-level characteristics associated with missed viral load. Among 1,754 participants (66% female), the prevalence of missed viral load in year one and two was 24.4% and 29.4%, respectively. Drivers for missed viral load measurements included loss to follow up (51.5% in year one and 57.8% in year two), clinician non-adherence with guidelines (36.7% in year one and 32.2% in year two), unknown (10.3% in year one and 8.6% in year two), and requested but not collected (1.5% in year one and 1.3% in year two). Participants aged