A Prioritization System for Timely HIV/AIDS Patient Care

Abstract

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) damages the immune system and AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) occurs in the final stage of the virus when it is not treated. This situation keeps being a global health problem, and efforts have focused on research for a cure. In general, the diagnosis focuses on clinical blood examinations of the lymphocyte cells behavior and the treatment with medications and vaccines. Due to the complexity of the disease, interventions that involve different aspects of the diagnosis and treatment are, in course. This paper presents a prioritization system for timely help the healthcare of HIV/AIDS patient. It relies on a model built using multiple criteria decision analysis that employs variables related to information of the patient. The model output is an index that maps into an appropriate care scale that leads to managing timely actions, aims to optimize the treatment, and supports the patient to take control of the disease. We validated the model with simulated data, obtaining a 94.8% of correct class assignment using a decision tree. We also tested the model with case studies data with 80% of correct assignation. The results show that the prioritization assignment tends to be founded on the variables patient profile and time of disease, although more research on the variable analysis and data collection is mandatory.