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The National Strategy for Sexual Health and HIV aims to reduce the pool of undiagnosed HIV infection in the United Kingdom.1 Potential benefits of earlier diagnosis include timely initiation of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), prevention of complications of HIV, screening for STIs that are known to enhance HIV infectivity,2 and psychological support. Patients may not realise these benefits if they are lost to follow up (LFU). Previous studies have found associations between frequent non-attendance (as distinct from LFU) and less severe illness,3 drug addiction,4 and patients’ health beliefs.5
We studied the case notes of all surviving patients who had enrolled in our HIV clinic within a 15 month period but had not received medical care for 12 months …