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Oka S. AIDS at 40 th: The progress of HIV treatment in Japan. Glob Health Med 2022; 4:1-8. [PMID: 35291198 PMCID: PMC8884036 DOI: 10.35772/ghm.2021.01120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/06/2021] [Revised: 01/26/2022] [Accepted: 02/02/2022] [Indexed: 06/14/2023]
Abstract
Forty years have passed since the first five AIDS cases in Los Angeles were reported in 1981. Looking back at the history, these 40 years could be divided into 3 phases. During the first 15 years, when there was little efficacious therapy against HIV, clinical research was directed to develop diagnosis and treatment for opportunistic infections, mainly Pneumocystis jirovecii pneumonia. When combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) became available in 1996, taking cART had been troublesome to most patients following 10 years because some of them had severe side effects, diet restrictions, high pill burdens, drug interactions, etc. It was not easy for patients to keep high adherence and, therefore, the virus easily obtained drug resistance. Although the prognosis has been dramatically improved, patients had been still living with hard times during the second phase. Along with advancement of anti-retroviral drugs that have allowed simple treatment possible, their life expectancy has further improved and is reaching almost nearly the general population in the following 15 years. However, some patients have recently faced an additional load to treat life-related comorbidities and non-AIDS defining malignancies. The problem is that these diseases start to occur in the 40s- or 50s-year-old generations and that means HIV-infected persons are suffering from pre-mature aging. AIDS no longer signifies death. However, we still have a lot to improve for their quality of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shinichi Oka
- Address correspondence to:Shinichi Oka, AIDS Clinical Center, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1, Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan. E-mail:
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Govere SM, Chimbari MJ. The evolution and adoption of World Health Organization policy guidelines on antiretroviral therapy initiation in sub-Saharan Africa: A scoping review. South Afr J HIV Med 2020; 21:1103. [PMID: 33101722 PMCID: PMC7564818 DOI: 10.4102/sajhivmed.v21i1.1103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/06/2020] [Accepted: 07/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Despite past and present global interventions, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) pandemic remains a public health problem in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). The World Health Organization (WHO) has assisted these countries by providing antiretroviral therapy (ART) policies for adoption and adaptation to local needs. Objectives This article describes the response of countries in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), to the WHO’s changing CD4-threshold ART-initiation recommendations of the past two decades. Methods Relevant articles published in international peer-reviewed journals were accessed via the following search engines: PubMed, Google Scholar, Cochrane, Embase and EBSCOhost. The study’s inclusion criteria were articles published in the English language between 2000 and 2019 that highlighted changes to the CD4 ART-initiation threshold and that focused on the WHO’s ‘commencement of ART’ policy guidelines. Sixteen studies (n = 16) from SSA were identified and included in this review: four are cross-sectional, four deal with cost-effectiveness, four are retrospective, one is a randomised trial and three are observational studies. Only studies conducted in SSA were assessed. Results Four themes emerged: (1) adoption of the WHO CD4-ART-initiation policy by SSA countries, (2) timely implementation of the changing guideline initiation policy in the region, (3) barriers and facilitators encountered in the implementation of the changing guidelines and (4) description of similarities in policy implementation at country level from 2002 to 2019. Regional studies – cross-sectional, observational, retrospective, cost-effectiveness and randomised have described greater access to ART in SSA. However, barriers remain. The most common barriers to the timely implementation of ‘new’ ART-initiation guidelines were economic constraints, drug stock-outs, delays in obtaining baseline blood-test results and staff shortages. Conclusion Although countries in SSA have adopted the WHO-ART-CD4 initiation-threshold policy guidelines, implementation has seldom occurred in a timely manner. Barriers have been identified. Whilst a small number of countries have implemented recommendations promptly, for many, the barriers still require to be overcome.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabina M Govere
- College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
| | - Moses J Chimbari
- College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa
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Ngbapai JG, Izudi J, Okoboi S. Cessation of breastfeeding and associated factors in the era of elimination of mother to child transmission of HIV at Ndejje health center, Uganda: a retrospective cohort study. Int Breastfeed J 2020; 15:78. [PMID: 32894155 PMCID: PMC7476247 DOI: 10.1186/s13006-020-00323-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2020] [Accepted: 09/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Breastfeeding an infant exposed to Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) carries the risk of HIV acquisition whilst not breastfeeding poses a higher risk of death from malnutrition, diarrhea, and pneumonia. In Uganda, mothers living with HIV are encouraged to discontinue breastfeeding at 12 months but data are limited. We examined the frequency and factors associated with cessation of breastfeeding at 1 year among mothers living with HIV at Ndejje Health Center IV, a large peri-urban health facility in Uganda. Methods This retrospective cohort study involved all mothers living with HIV and enrolled in HIV care for ≥12 months between June 2014 and June 2018. We abstracted data from registers, held focus group discussions with mothers living with HIV and key informant interviews with healthcare providers. Cessation of breastfeeding was defined as the proportion of mothers living with HIV who had discontinued breastfeeding at 1 year. We summarized quantitative data descriptively, tested differences in outcome using Chi-square and t - tests, and established independently associated factors using modified Poisson regression analysis at 5% statistical significance level. We thematically analyzed qualitative data to enrich and triangulate the quantitative results. Results Of 235 participants, 150 (63.8%) had ceased breastfeeding at 1 year and this was independently associated with the infant being male (Adjusted Risk Ratio [aRR] 1.25, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04, 1.50), the mother being multiparous (aRR 1.26, 95% CI 1.04–1.53), and the initiation of breastfeeding being on the same-day as birth (aRR 0.06, 95% CI 0.01–0.41). The reasons for ceasing breastfeeding included male infants over breastfeed than females, maternal literacy and knowledge adequacy about breastfeeding, support and reminders from the partner, and boys can bite once they get teeth. Conclusion Suboptimal proportion of infants were ceased from breastfeeding at 1 year and this might increase the risk of mother to child transmission of HIV. Cessation of breastfeeding was more likely among male infants and multiparous mothers but less likely when breastfeeding was initiated on the same-day as birth. Interventions to enhance cessation of breastfeeding should target none multiparous mothers and those with female infants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jackslina Gaaniri Ngbapai
- Institute of Public Health and Management, Clarke International University, P.O. Box 7782, Kampala, Uganda
| | - Jonathan Izudi
- Institute of Public Health and Management, Clarke International University, P.O. Box 7782, Kampala, Uganda. .,Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, P.O Box 1410, Mbarara, Uganda.
| | - Stephen Okoboi
- Institute of Public Health and Management, Clarke International University, P.O. Box 7782, Kampala, Uganda.,Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere University College of Health Sciences, P.O. Box 22418, Kampala, Uganda.,Global Health Institute, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium
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Birungi J, Cui Z, Okoboi S, Kapaata A, Munderi P, Mukajjanga C, Nanfuka M, Nyonyintono MS, Kim J, Zhu J, Kaleebu P, Moore DM. Lack of effectiveness of adherence counselling in reversing virological failure among patients on long-term antiretroviral therapy in rural Uganda. HIV Med 2019; 21:21-29. [PMID: 31432614 PMCID: PMC6916407 DOI: 10.1111/hiv.12790] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 07/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
Objectives The current World Health Organization and Uganda Ministry of Health HIV treatment guidelines recommend that asymptomatic patients who have a viral load (VL) ≥ 1000 HIV‐1 RNA copies/mL should receive adherence counselling and repeat VL testing before switching to second‐line therapy. We evaluated the effectiveness of this strategy in a large HIV treatment programme of The AIDS Support Organisation Jinja in Jinja, Uganda. Methods We measured the HIV VL at enrolment, and for participants with VL ≥ 1000 copies/mL we informed them of their result, offered enhanced adherence counselling and repeated the VL measurement after 3 months. All blood samples with VL ≥ 1000 copies/mL were sequenced in the polymerase (pol) region, a 1257‐bp fragment spanning the protease and reverse transcriptase genes. Results One thousand and ninety‐one participants were enrolled in the study; 74.7% were female and the median age was 44 years [interquartile range (IQR) 39–50 years]. The median time on antiretroviral therapy (ART) at enrolment was 6.75 years (IQR 5.3–7.6 years) and the median CD4 cell count was 494 cells/μL (IQR 351–691 cells/μL). A total of 113 participants (10.4%) had VLs ≥ 1000 copies/mL and were informed of the VL result and its implications and given adherence counselling. Of these 113 participants, 102 completed 3 months of follow‐up and 93 (91%) still had VLs ≥ 1000 copies/mL. We successfully genotyped HIV for 105 patients (93%) and found that 103 (98%) had at least one mutation: eight (7.6%) had only one mutation, 94 (89.5%) had two mutations and one sample (1%) had three mutations. Conclusions In this study, enhanced adherence counselling was not effective in reversing virologically defined treatment failure for patients on long‐term ART who had not previously had a VL test.
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Affiliation(s)
- J Birungi
- The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), Kampala, Uganda.,Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute & London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Uganda Research Unit on AIDS, Entebbe, Uganda
| | - Z Cui
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - S Okoboi
- Infectious Diseases Institute, Makerere, Uganda
| | - A Kapaata
- Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute & London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Uganda Research Unit on AIDS, Entebbe, Uganda
| | - P Munderi
- International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, Washington, DC, USA
| | - C Mukajjanga
- The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), Kampala, Uganda
| | - M Nanfuka
- The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO), Kampala, Uganda
| | | | - J Kim
- University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - J Zhu
- University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - P Kaleebu
- Medical Research Council/Uganda Virus Research Institute & London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Uganda Research Unit on AIDS, Entebbe, Uganda
| | - D M Moore
- BC Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC, Canada.,University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
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Darraj M, Shafer LA, Chan S, Kasper K, Keynan Y. Rapid CD4 decline prior to antiretroviral therapy predicts subsequent failure to reconstitute despite HIV viral suppression. J Infect Public Health 2017; 11:265-269. [PMID: 28826735 DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2017.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/09/2016] [Revised: 06/03/2017] [Accepted: 08/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
HIV-1 infection is characterized by loss of CD4T cells, leading to immunodeficiency. Initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) results in suppression of the viral load and increased CD4 counts. Both viral and host factors determine CD4 cell responses to ART with approximately 15-30% of individuals having suboptimal increase of CD4T cell count, most commonly due to lack of compliance to ART. A smaller fraction of patients will have immune reconstitution failure and suboptimal CD4 increase despite suppression of HIV replication, and these individuals are at risk for adverse health outcomes. We sought to characterize the factors associated with decreased immunological response among Manitoba's HIV patient population. This retrospective case-control study included HIV patients with immune reconstitution failure despite suppression of HIV replication by ART. The immune reconstitution failure was defined by CD4 cell count increase from baseline of less than 100 CD4 cells/mm3 or lack of increase to above 200 CD4 cells/mm3 within one year of viral load suppression. Age and nadir CD4 cell counts are known risk factors associated with immune reconstitution failure. We chose controls (Patients with immune reconstitution success) of similar age and CD4 nadir cell with cases (Patients with immune reconstitution failure). We explored the potential effects of gender, HLA type, presence of co-infection, ethnicity, ART type, and rate of pre-treatment CD4 decline among cases and controls. Of more than 550 patients followed by our HIV clinic, 42 individuals met our definition of immune reconstitution failure and they were assigned to the cases group. 31 patients, comprising a range of ages and CD4 nadirs similar to those of the cases, were assigned to the control group. Our primary analysis was a regression model, predicting post-ART change in CD4 over time. After controlling for age and nadir CD4 cell counts, the only potential predictor that appears consistently associated with the rate of post-ART rise in CD4 over time in our cohort, regardless of the other variables that we have controlled for, is the rate of decline in CD4 pre-ART initiation. Several factors have been variably correlated with immune reconstitution failure of CD4 T cell count. Age and low CD4 nadir are factors previously shown to correlate with immune reconstitution failure; and we have controlled for them in our study. Another possible predictor is the rate of decline in CD4 pre-ART, which can serve as an additional marker of reconstitution failure and necessitate prioritizing individuals to ART initiation or identification of a subset of individuals that may be targeted for future adjunct strategies to improve immune recovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Majid Darraj
- Department of Internal Medicine, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia; Manitoba HIV Program, Canada; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba, Canada
| | - Leigh A Shafer
- Department of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba, Canada
| | | | - Ken Kasper
- Manitoba HIV Program, Canada; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba, Canada
| | - Yoav Keynan
- Manitoba HIV Program, Canada; Department of Internal Medicine, University of Manitoba, Canada; Department of Medical Microbiology, Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Manitoba, Canada.
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Sheik Amamuddy O, Bishop NT, Tastan Bishop Ö. Improving fold resistance prediction of HIV-1 against protease and reverse transcriptase inhibitors using artificial neural networks. BMC Bioinformatics 2017; 18:369. [PMID: 28810826 PMCID: PMC5558779 DOI: 10.1186/s12859-017-1782-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2017] [Accepted: 08/07/2017] [Indexed: 01/27/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Drug resistance in HIV treatment is still a worldwide problem. Predicting resistance to antiretrovirals (ARVs) before starting any treatment is important. Prediction accuracy is essential, as low-accuracy predictions increase the risk of prescribing sub-optimal drug regimens leading to patients developing resistance sooner. Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are a powerful tool that would be able to assist in drug resistance prediction. In this study, we constrained the dataset to subtype B, sacrificing generalizability for a higher predictive performance, and demonstrated that the predictive quality of the ANN regression models have definite improvement for most ARVs. Results Trained regression ANNs were optimized for eight protease inhibitors, six nucleoside reverse transcriptase (RT) inhibitors and four non-nucleoside RT inhibitors by experimenting combinations of rare variant filtering (none versus 1 residue occurrence) and ANN topologies (1–3 hidden layers with 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 nodes per layer). Single hidden layers (5–20 nodes) were used for training where overfitting was detected. 5-fold cross-validation produced mean R2 values over 0.95 and standard deviations lower than 0.04 for all but two antiretrovirals. Conclusions Overall, higher accuracies and lower variances (compared to results published in 2016) were obtained by experimenting with various preprocessing methods, while focusing on the most prevalent subtype in the raw dataset (subtype B).We thus highlight the need to develop and make available subtype-specific datasets for developing higher accuracy in drug-resistance prediction methods. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12859-017-1782-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olivier Sheik Amamuddy
- Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa
| | - Nigel T Bishop
- Department of Mathematics (Pure and Applied), Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa
| | - Özlem Tastan Bishop
- Research Unit in Bioinformatics (RUBi), Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, 6140, South Africa.
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Lubogo M, Anguzu R, Wanzira H, Namugwanya I, Namuddu O, Ssali D, Nanyonga S, Ssentongo J, Seeley J. Willingness by people living with HIV/AIDS to utilize HIV services provided by Village Health team workers in Kalungu district, central Uganda. Afr Health Sci 2017; 17:216-224. [PMID: 29026396 DOI: 10.4314/ahs.v17i1.27] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Less than one quarter of people in need have access to HIV services in Uganda. This study assessed willingness of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) to utilize HIV services provided by Village Health Teams (VHTs) in Kalungu district, central Uganda. METHODS A cross-sectional study conducted in two health facilities providing anti-retroviral therapy enrolled 312 PLWHAs. Pre-tested semi-structured questionnaires were administered to participants at household level. A forward fitting logistic regression model computed the predictors of willingness of PLWHAs to utilize services provided by VHTs. RESULTS Overall, 49% were willing to utilize HIV services provided by VHTs increasing to 75.6% if the VHT member was HIV positive. PLWHAs who resided in urban areas were more likely to utilize HIV services provided by VHTs (AOR 0.24, 95%CI 0.06-0.87). Barriers to utilizing HIV services provided by VHTs were: income level > 40 USD (AOR 6.43 95%CI 1.19-34.68), being a business person (AOR 8.71 95%CI 1.23-61.72), peasant (AOR 7.95 95%CI 1.37-46.19), lack of encouragement from: peers (AOR 6.33 95%CI 1.43-28.09), spouses (AOR 4.93 95%CI 1.23-19.82) and community leader (AOR 9.67 95%CI 3.35-27.92). CONCLUSION Social support could improve willingness by PLWHAs to utilize HIV services provided by VHTs for increased access to HIV services by PLWHA.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Ronald Anguzu
- Makerere University School of Public Health (MakSPH)
- El-Channun Community Health Initiatives, Uganda (ELCOHIN)
| | | | | | | | - Denis Ssali
- District Health Team, Kalungu District Local Government
| | | | - Josephine Ssentongo
- Medical Research Council / Uganda Virus Research Institute (MRC/UVRI), Uganda
| | - Janet Seeley
- Medical Research Council / Uganda Virus Research Institute (MRC/UVRI), Uganda
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Treatment failure and drug resistance in HIV-positive patients on tenofovir-based first-line antiretroviral therapy in western Kenya. J Int AIDS Soc 2016; 19:20798. [PMID: 27231099 PMCID: PMC4882399 DOI: 10.7448/ias.19.1.20798] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2015] [Revised: 03/31/2016] [Accepted: 04/26/2016] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Tenofovir-based first-line antiretroviral therapy (ART) is recommended globally. To evaluate the impact of its incorporation into the World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines, we examined treatment failure and drug resistance among a cohort of patients on tenofovir-based first-line ART at the Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare, a large HIV treatment programme in western Kenya. Methods We determined viral load (VL), drug resistance and their correlates in patients on ≥six months of tenofovir-based first-line ART. Based on enrolled patients’ characteristics, we described these measures in those with (prior ART group) and without (tenofovir-only group) prior non-tenofovir-based first-line ART using Wilcoxon rank sum and Fisher's exact tests. Results Among 333 participants (55% female; median age 41 years; median CD4 336 cells/µL), detectable (>40 copies/mL) VL was found in 18%, and VL>1000 copies/mL (WHO threshold) in 10%. Virologic failure at both thresholds was significantly higher in 217 participants in the tenofovir-only group compared with 116 in the prior ART group using both cut-offs (24% vs. 7% with VL>40 copies/mL; 15% vs. 1% with VL>1000 copies/mL). Failure in the tenofovir-only group was associated with lower CD4 values and advanced WHO stage. In 35 available genotypes from 51 participants in the tenofovir-only group with VL>40 copies/mL (69% subtype A), any resistance was found in 89% and dual-class resistance in 83%. Tenofovir signature mutation K65R occurred in 71% (17/24) of the patients infected with subtype A. Patients with K65R had significantly lower CD4 values, higher WHO stage and more resistance mutations. Conclusions In this Kenyan cohort, tenofovir-based first-line ART resulted in good (90%) virologic suppression including high suppression (99%) after switch from non-tenofovir-based ART. Lower virologic suppression (85%) and high observed resistance levels (89%) in the tenofovir-only group impact future treatment options, support recommendations for widespread VL monitoring in such resource limited settings to identify early treatment failure and suggest consideration of individualized resistance testing to design effective subsequent regimens.
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Asiimwe SB, Kanyesigye M, Bwana B, Okello S, Muyindike W. Predictors of dropout from care among HIV-infected patients initiating antiretroviral therapy at a public sector HIV treatment clinic in sub-Saharan Africa. BMC Infect Dis 2016; 16:43. [PMID: 26832737 PMCID: PMC4736127 DOI: 10.1186/s12879-016-1392-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/21/2015] [Accepted: 01/27/2016] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Background In sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), antiretroviral therapy (ART) can prolong life for HIV-infected patients. However, patients initiating ART, especially in routine treatment programs, commonly dropout from care either due to death or loss to follow-up. Methods In a cohort of HIV-infected patients initiating ART at a public sector clinic in Uganda, we assessed predictors of dropout from care (a composite outcome combining death and loss to follow-up). From a large set of socio-demographic, clinical, and laboratory variables routinely collected at ART initiation, we selected those predicting dropout at P <0.1 in unadjusted analyses for inclusion into a multivariable proportional hazards regression model. We then used a stepwise backward selection procedure to identify variables which independently predicted dropout at P <0.05. Results Data from 5,057 patients were analyzed. The median age was 33 years (IQR 28 to 40) and 27.4 % had CD4+ T-cell counts <100 cells/μL at ART initiation. The median duration of follow-up was 24 months (IQR = 14 to 42, maximum follow-up = 64 months). Overall dropout was 26.9 % (established cumulative mortality = 2.3 %, loss to follow-up = 24.6 %), 5.6 % were transferred to other service providers, and 67.5 % were retained in care. A diagnosis of Kaposi’s sarcoma (hazard ratio (HR) = 3.3, 95 % CI 2.5 to 4.5); HIV-associated dementia (HR = 2.6, 95 % CI 1.5 to 4.6); history of cryptococcosis (HR = 2.2, 95 % CI 1.4 to 3.3); and reduced hemoglobin concentration (<11 g/dl versus ≥13.8 g/dl (HR = 1.9, 95 % CI 1.6 to 2.2) were strong predictors of dropout. Other independent predictors of dropout were: year of ART initiation; weight loss ≥10 %; reduced total lymphocyte count; chronic diarrhea; male sex; young age (≤28 years); and marital status. Conclusions Among HIV-infected patients initiating ART at a public sector clinic in SSA, biological factors that usually predict death were especially predictive of dropout. As most of the dropouts were lost to follow-up, this observation suggests that many losses to follow-up may have died. Future studies are needed to identify appropriate interventions that may improve both individual-level patient outcomes and outcome ascertainment among HIV-infected ART initiators in this setting.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen B Asiimwe
- Department of Medicine, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, P.O Box 40, Mbarara, Uganda. .,Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, California, USA.
| | - Michael Kanyesigye
- Department of Medicine, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, P.O Box 40, Mbarara, Uganda.
| | - Bosco Bwana
- Department of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
| | - Samson Okello
- Department of Medicine, Mbarara University of Science and Technology, Mbarara, Uganda.
| | - Winnie Muyindike
- Department of Medicine, Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, P.O Box 40, Mbarara, Uganda.
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The clock is ticking: the rate and timeliness of antiretroviral therapy initiation from the time of treatment eligibility in Kenya. J Int AIDS Soc 2015; 18:20019. [PMID: 26507824 PMCID: PMC4623278 DOI: 10.7448/ias.18.1.20019] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/03/2015] [Revised: 08/23/2015] [Accepted: 09/08/2015] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Introduction Understanding the determinants of timely antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation is useful for HIV programmes intent on developing models of care that reduce delays in treatment initiation while maintaining a high quality of care. We analysed patient- and facility-level determinants of time to ART initiation among patients who initiated ART in Kenya. Methods We collected facility-level information and conducted a retrospective chart review of adults initiating ART between 2007 and 2012 at 51 health facilities in Kenya. We evaluated the association between patient- and facility-level covariates at the time of ART eligibility and time to ART initiation. We also explored the determinants associated with timeliness of ART initiation. Results The analysis included 11,942 patients. The median age at the time eligibility was first determined was 37 years (interquartile range [IQR] 31–45). Overall, 75% of patients initiated ART within two months of eligibility. The median CD4 cell count at the time eligibility was first determined rose from 132 (IQR 51–217) in 2007 to 195 (IQR 91–286) in 2011 to 2012 (p<0.001). The cumulative probability of ART initiation among treatment-eligible patients increased over time: 87.1% (95% confidence interval [CI] 85.1–89.0%) in 2007; 96.8% (96.0–97.5%) in 2008; 97.1% (96.3–97.7%) in 2009; 98.5% (98.0 −98.9%) in 2010; and 99.7% (95% CI 99.4 −99.8%) in 2011 to 2012 (p<0.0001). In multivariate analyses, attending a health facility with high ART patient volumes within two months of eligibility was considered the key facility-level determinant of ART initiation (adjusted odds ratio 0.57, 95% CI 0.45–0.72, p<0.001). Patient-level determinants included being eligible for ART in the years subsequent to 2007, advanced World Health Organization clinical stage and low CD4 cell count at the time eligibility was first determined. Conclusions Overall, the time between treatment eligibility and ART initiation decreased substantially in Kenya between 2007 and 2012, with uniform gains across different types of health facilities. Our findings highlight the slow increase in CD4 cell counts at the time of ART eligibility over time, indicating that a large number of patients are still beginning ART with advanced HIV disease. Our findings also support the decentralisation of ART services at all health facilities that have the capacity to initiate treatment. Continued evaluation of programme- and country-level data is needed to monitor timeliness of ART initiation as countries continue to expand treatment access.
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