Incorporation of Social Determinants of Health in the Peer-Reviewed Literature: A Systematic Review of Articles Authored by the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and TB Prevention

Experiences of peer navigators implementing a bilingual multilevel intervention to address sexually transmitted infection and HIV disparities and social determinants of health

INTRODUCTION

Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) disproportionately affect young gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM) and transgender women of colour. We explored the experiences of community-based peer navigators ('Community Navigators') who participated in Impact Triad, a bilingual multilevel intervention developed by our community-based participatory research partnership to reduce STIs and HIV and address social determinants of health (e.g., employment, education, social support and discrimination) among young GBMSM and transgender women of colour.

METHODS

Individual in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 Community Navigators who participated in Impact Triad. Themes were identified through constant comparison.

RESULTS

Community Navigators' mean age was 31.4 years. Seven were self-identified as African American/Black, 5 as Latine, 2 as multiracial/multiethnic, 1 as Asian American, 10 as cisgender men, 4 as transgender women and 1 as gender nonbinary. Thirteen themes emerged in three domains: (1) key aspects of the Community Navigator role (e.g., desire to serve as a community resource, the importance of being part of the communities in which one was working, the value of having an official role, being connected to other Community Navigators to problem-solving and sustaining intervention aspects long-term); (2) experiences implementing Impact Triad (e.g., engaging community members, meeting prioritized needs, building trust, using social media, increasing awareness and knowledge and challenges related to COVID-19) and (3) lessons learned for future interventions (e.g., facilitating access to broader resources, building additional skills and increasing interactions among Community Navigators).

CONCLUSION

Interviews identified important learnings about serving as Community Navigators and implementing Impact Triad that can guide future efforts to address STI/HIV disparities and social determinants of health through community-based peer navigation.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

Throughout this intervention trial, our partnership worked collaboratively with a study-specific community advisory board (CAB) comprised primarily of young GBMSM and transgender women of colour. Members of this CAB participated in all aspects of the trial including trial design, intervention development, recruitment and retention strategies, data collection and analysis, interpretation of findings and dissemination.

Pathways linking relative deprivation to blood pressure control: the mediating role of depression and medication adherence among Chinese middle-aged and older hypertensive patients

BACKGROUND

Studies have demonstrated that individuals of low socioeconomic status have higher blood pressure. Yet, whether socioeconomic inequality would influence blood pressure control and the underlying mechanisms associated with socioeconomic inequality in blood pressure control are unknown. Central to socioeconomic inequality is relative deprivation. We aim to examine the association between relative deprivation and blood pressure control and to investigate the pathways of the association among middle-aged and older adults with hypertension.

METHODS

Data were collected from the 2020 Household Health Interview Survey in Taian City, Shandong province. This study included 2382 eligible respondents aged 45 years and older with a diagnosis of hypertension. Our primary outcome was dichotomous blood pressure control. Relative deprivation was calculated with the Deaton Index. Depressive symptoms and medication adherence were considered as mediators. Multivariable binary logistic regression models were used to estimate the effect of relative deprivation on blood pressure control. The "KHB-method" was used to perform mediation analysis.

RESULTS

Among 2382 middle-aged and older adults with hypertension, the mean age was 64.9 years (SD 9.1), with 61.3% females. The overall proportion of participants with uncontrolled blood pressure was 65.1%. Increased relative deprivation was likely to have higher odds of uncontrolled blood pressure (OR: 2.35, 95%CI: 1.78-7.14). Furthermore, depressive symptoms and medication adherence partially mediated the overall association between relative deprivation and blood pressure control, with depressive symptoms and medication adherence explaining 5.91% and 37.76%, respectively, of the total effect of relative deprivation on blood pressure control.

CONCLUSIONS

Individual relative deprivation could threaten blood pressure control among middle-aged and older hypertension patients through the mechanisms of depression and medication adherence. Hence, improving blood pressure control may require more than just health management and education but fundamental reform of the income distribution and social security system to narrow the income gap, reducing relative economic deprivation. Additionally, interventions tailoring psychological services and medication adherence could be designed to reduce the harmful effect of relative deprivation on blood pressure control among disadvantaged individuals.

A new mixed agent-based network and compartmental simulation framework for joint modeling of related infectious diseases- application to sexually transmitted infections

Background

A model that jointly simulates infectious diseases with common modes of transmission can serve as a decision-analytic tool to identify optimal intervention combinations for overall disease prevention. In the United States, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a huge economic burden, with a large fraction of the burden attributed to HIV. Data also show interactions between HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), such as higher risk of acquisition and progression of co-infections among persons with HIV compared to persons without. However, given the wide range in prevalence and incidence burdens of STIs, current compartmental or agent-based network simulation methods alone are insufficient or computationally burdensome for joint disease modeling. Further, causal factors for higher risk of coinfection could be both behavioral (i.e., compounding effects of individual behaviors, network structures, and care behaviors) and biological (i.e., presence of one disease can biologically increase the risk of another). However, the data on the fraction attributed to each are limited.

Methods

We present a new mixed agent-based compartmental (MAC) framework for jointly modeling STIs. It uses a combination of a new agent-based evolving network modeling (ABENM) technique for lower-prevalence diseases and compartmental modeling for higher-prevalence diseases. As a demonstration, we applied MAC to simulate lower-prevalence HIV in the United States and a higher-prevalence hypothetical Disease 2, using a range of transmission and progression rates to generate burdens replicative of the wide range of STIs. We simulated sexual transmissions among heterosexual males, heterosexual females, and men who have sex with men (men only and men and women). Setting the biological risk of co-infection to zero, we conducted numerical analyses to evaluate the influence of behavioral factors alone on disease dynamics.

Results

The contribution of behavioral factors to risk of coinfection was sensitive to disease burden, care access, and population heterogeneity and mixing. The contribution of behavioral factors was generally lower than observed risk of coinfections for the range of hypothetical prevalence studied here, suggesting potential role of biological factors, that should be investigated further specific to an STI.

Conclusions

The purpose of this study is to present a new simulation technique for jointly modeling infectious diseases that have common modes of transmission but varying epidemiological features. The numerical analysis serves as proof-of-concept for the application to STIs. Interactions between diseases are influenced by behavioral factors, are sensitive to care access and population features, and are likely exacerbated by biological factors. Social and economic conditions are among key drivers of behaviors that increase STI transmission, and thus, structural interventions are a key part of behavioral interventions. Joint modeling of diseases helps comprehensively simulate behavioral and biological factors of disease interactions to evaluate the true impact of common structural interventions on overall disease prevention. The new simulation framework is especially suited to simulate behavior as a function of social determinants, and further, to identify optimal combinations of common structural and disease-specific interventions.

This Is America: Systemic Racism and Health Inequities Amidst the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) continues to devastate the world and the United States remains number one of reported COVID-19 cases and deaths. Research demonstrates that Blacks and Hispanics in the United States are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, especially among highly marginalized people at the intersection of immigration and incarceration. Social distancing is a privilege and contact tracing is a deterrent for historically oppressed populations. Public health professionals have attempted a multicausal approach to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, but they have been unsuccessful in addressing the biological-social impact of highly vulnerable populations. An emphasis is placed on syndemics and social determinants of health to address health inequities associated with COVID-19 due to systemic racism. Implications for social work will reinforce the profession's obligation to address public emergencies through social and political action. Recommendations will be made for social workers to support local, state, and federal level responses of COVID-19.

“¿Por qué pasa esto? Porque vivimos en una sociedad que constantemente te dice que no eres mujer”: género y riesgo del VIH en mujeres trans del noreste mexicano

Las mujeres trans enfrentan un riesgo desproporcionado de adquirir el VIH. Este estudio analiza cualitativamente el riesgo del VIH en mujeres trans mexicanas desde el género como estructura social. Se trata de un estudio cualitativo realizado en el noreste de México. Se hicieron 15 entrevistas a mujeres trans de entre 22 y 69 años y se realizó un análisis temático. El análisis de las entrevistas reveló tres categorías temáticas: construcciones sociales del VIH y estigma, el género y el VIH en las relaciones interpersonales, y el género y el VIH en las instituciones y la política. Los resultados muestran que las construcciones sociales del VIH se tejen en el colectivo, a partir de la interacción con otras mujeres trans. El VIH es un fenómeno atravesado por la temporalidad sociohistórica y, en ese sentido, se generan las percepciones de riesgo frente a él. El género como estructura de opresión se vincula con las experiencias de estigma y discriminación, así como la búsqueda de la legitimación del género a través de las relaciones con parejas sexuales. Las instituciones y la política pública se relacionan con el acceso a los servicios de salud, además se identifican y analizan las barreras institucionales, personales y colectivas a partir de la identidad de género. La política sostiene y refuerza la marginalización de las mujeres trans impactando en el riesgo del VIH. Los resultados muestran que el riesgo del VIH es un fenómeno multicausal basado en el género como estructura de opresión con implicaciones sistémicas.

Modeling the Impact of Social Determinants of Health on HIV

There is growing evidence for the key role of social determinants of health (SDOH) in understanding morbidity and mortality outcomes globally. Factors such as stigma, racism, poverty or access to health and social services represent complex constructs that affect population health via intricate relationships to individual characteristics, behaviors and disease prevention and treatment outcomes. Modeling the role of SDOH is both critically important and inherently complex. Here we describe different modeling approaches and their use in assessing the impact of SDOH on HIV/AIDS. The discussion is thematically divided into mechanistic models and statistical models, while recognizing the overlap between them. To illustrate mechanistic approaches, we use examples of compartmental models and agent-based models; to illustrate statistical approaches, we use regression and statistical causal models. We describe model structure, data sources required, and the scope of possible inferences, highlighting similarities and differences in formulation, implementation, and interpretation of different modeling approaches. We also indicate further needed research on representing and quantifying the effect of SDOH in the context of models for HIV and other health outcomes in recognition of the critical role of SDOH in achieving the goal of ending the HIV epidemic and improving overall population health.

Income Inequality Is Associated With Low Cumulative Antiretroviral Adherence in Persons With Human Immunodeficiency Virus

Background

The adherence biomarker tenofovir diphosphate (TFV-DP) in dried blood spots (DBS) is associated with viral suppression and predicts future viremia. However, its association with social determinants of health (SDoH) in people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH) remains unknown.

Methods

Dried blood spots for TFV-DP were longitudinally collected from a clinical cohort of PWH receiving tenofovir disoproxil fumarate-based therapy (up to 3 visits over 48 weeks) residing in 5 Colorado counties. To assign SDoH, zip codes at enrollment were matched with SDoH data from AIDSVu (https://aidsvu.org/). The SDoH included household income, percentage living in poverty, education level, and income inequality (quantified using Gini coefficient, where 0 and 1 represent perfect income equality and inequality, respectively). Log-transformed TFV-DP concentrations were analyzed using a mixed-effects model to estimate percentage change (95% confidence interval) in TFV-DP for every significant change in the SDoH and adjusted for relevant covariates including age, gender, race, estimated glomerular filtration rate, body mass index, hematocrit, CD4⁺ T-cell count, antiretroviral drug class, and 3-month self-reported adherence.

Results

Data from 430 PWH totaling 950 person-visits were analyzed. In an adjusted analysis, income inequality was inversely associated with TFV-DP in DBS. For every 0.1 increase in the Gini coefficient, TFV-DP concentrations decreased by 9.2% (−0.5 to −17.1; P = .039). This remained significant after adjusting for human immunodeficiency virus viral suppression, where a 0.1 increase in Gini was associated with a decrease of 8.7% (−0.3 to −17.9; P = .042) in TFV-DP.

Conclusions

Higher income inequality was associated with lower cumulative antiretroviral adherence. These findings support the need for further research on how SDoH impact adherence and clinical care.

Community Engagement of African Americans in the Era of COVID-19: Considerations, Challenges, Implications, and Recommendations for Public Health

African Americans, compared with all other racial/ethnic groups, are more likely to contract coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), be hospitalized for it, and die of the disease. Psychosocial, sociocultural, and environmental vulnerabilities, compounded by preexisting health conditions, exacerbate this health disparity. Interconnected historical, policy, clinical, and community factors explain and underpin community-based participatory research approaches to advance the art and science of community engagement among African Americans in the COVID-19 era. In this commentary, we detail the pandemic response strategies of the Morehouse School of Medicine Prevention Research Center. We discuss the implications of these complex factors and propose recommendations for addressing them that, adopted together, will result in community and data-informed mitigation strategies. These approaches will proactively prepare for the next pandemic and advance community leadership toward health equity.

Sexually Transmitted Infections Prevalence in the United States and the Relationship to Social Determinants of Health

Rates of sexually transmitted infections (STI) are on the rise in the United States. Some STIs are at an all-time high. Research has shown that there is a higher prevalence of STIs among some racial and ethnic groups as compared with whites. Factors contributing to this endemic have been explored. Although some individual-level risk factors have previously been identified, data overwhelmingly suggest that social determinants of health are key factors in the overall increase in STIs. Additionally, these social factors have contributed to disparities in STI acquisition. Population-specific interventions targeting social factors are necessary in reducing the rates of STIs.

Integrated analyses reveal hsa_circ_0028883 as a diagnostic biomarker in active tuberculosis

Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are known to be closely involved in various diseases progression. Nevertheless, their function and underlying mechanisms in tuberculosis (TB) remain largely unknown. The aim of the present study was to explore their potential diagnostic values in TB. We downloaded the gene expression datasets of circRNA (GSE117563 and GSE106953), microRNA (miRNA, dataset GSE29190) and mRNA (GSE54992) from Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database. A competing endogenous RNAs (ceRNA) network was constructed based on circRNA-miRNA-mRNA potential interaction. We also constructed a circRNA-miRNA-hub gene regulatory module by using the Cytohubba. Gene ontology (GO) as well as Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway analysis were used to predict their biological functions. By further validation, the expression level of hsa_circ_0028883 and hsa-miR-409-5p were detected by qRT-PCR in 20 active TB patients and 20 healthy donors. Then, Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) was constructed to evaluate the diagnostic values of hsa_circ_0028883. 1 differentially expressed circRNA (DE-circRNA), 1 differentially expressed miRNA (DE-miRNA), and 44 differentially expressed mRNAs (DE-mRNAs) were selected for the construction of ceRNA network in TB. A circRNA-miRNA-hub gene (mRNA) sub-network was constructed based on 1 DE-circRNA, 1 DE-miRNA, and 8 DE-mRNAs. Hsa_circ_0028883/hsa-miR-409-5p/mRNA interactions may provide some novel mechanisms for active TB. GO and KEGG pathway analysis indicated the possible function of hsa_circ_0028883 with TB. ROC analysis revealed that hsa_circ_0028883 had potential value for TB diagnosis. Hsa_circ_0028883 is a potentially reliable biomarker to diagnose active TB, but there remains a need to further study the mechanism in TB.