BackgroundThe introduction of anti-retroviral treatment (ART) has significantly reduced mortality and morbidity associated with HIV/AIDS. While treatment at early stages of the disease is related to a better prognosis, late presentation (LP) to care is harmful to the infected person, the society and is more costly. We aimed to describe late presentation to HIV care, its associated factors and consequences in patients followed up in a tertiary hospital in Cameroon.MethodsWe retrospectively assessed patients’ files between 1996 and 2014 at the Douala general hospital (DGH) HIV treatment centre. Late presentation (LP) to HIV care was defined as a CD4+ T cell count< 350 cells/mm3 or advanced clinical stages of the disease (WHO stages 3/4) at first presentation for care. We used logistic regression to study factors associated with late presentation and assessed occurrence of opportunistic infections and mortality at 3, 6 and 12 months after presentation to care.ResultsOf 1866 files studied, mean age was 40 (SD: 10) years, median CD4+ T cell count was 147 (IQR: 63–270) cells/mm3, 58.2% were at HIV clinical stages 3 and 4. The prevalence of late presentation to HIV care was 89.7% (95% CI: 88.2–91.0%) and remained above 80% from 1996 to 2014. Circumstances of diagnosis: prevention of mother to child transmission program/blood donation (OR = 0.16, 95% CI 0.10–0.29), having a positive partner (OR = 0.16, 95%CI = 0.10–0.26), and routine screening (OR = 0.13, 95%CI = 0.10–0.19) reduced the odds of presenting late compared to clinical suspicion. Students had lower odds of presenting late compared to people who had an employment (OR = 0.50, 95%CI = 0.26–0.98). Calendar time OR = 1.64, 95% CI = 1.08–2.48 for ≥2010 vs. < 2005) increased the odds of late presentation. Mortality and opportunistic infections prevalence remained significantly higher in late presenters at 3, 6 and 12 months than in early presenters.ConclusionLate presentation to HIV care is very high at the DGH and is related to poor outcome. More screening and sensitization campaigns should be carried out in the population to diagnose the disease at an earlier stage.