Evidence map›Paper›PMID 26824465›Full record

ArticlePloS one2016

Clinical Evaluation of an Affordable Qualitative Viral Failure Assay for HIV Using Dried Blood Spots in Uganda.

Sheila N Balinda, Pascale Ondoa, Ekwaro A Obuku, Aletta Kliphuis, Isaac Egau, Michelle Bronze, Lordwin Kasambula, Rob Schuurman, Nicole Spieker, Tobias F Rinke de Wit and 2 more

Abstract readEvaluation Study
In one paragraph

Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Evaluation of dried blood spot protocols with the Bio-Rad GS HIV Combo Ag/Ab EIA and Geenius™ HIV 1/2 Supplemental Assay.Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology · 2017
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Sheila N BalindaJoint Clinical Research Center, P.O. Box 10005, Kampala, Uganda.
Pascale OndoaAmsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, Department of Global Health, Academic medical Center, Trinity C Building, Pietersbergweg 17, 1105 BM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Ekwaro A ObukuJoint Clinical Research Center, P.O. Box 10005, Kampala, Uganda.
Aletta KliphuisPharmAccess International, Amsterdam, Trinity Building C Pietersbergweg 17, 1105 BM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Isaac EgauJoint Clinical Research Center, P.O. Box 10005, Kampala, Uganda.
Michelle BronzeWits Health Consortium, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Lordwin KasambulaJoint Clinical Research Center, P.O. Box 10005, Kampala, Uganda.
Rob SchuurmanUniversity Medical Centre Utrecht, P.O. Box 80125, 3508 TC, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Nicole SpiekerPharmAccess International, Amsterdam, Trinity Building C Pietersbergweg 17, 1105 BM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Tobias F Rinke de WitAmsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development, Department of Global Health, Academic medical Center, Trinity C Building, Pietersbergweg 17, 1105 BM, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Cissy KityoJoint Clinical Research Center, P.O. Box 10005, Kampala, Uganda.
ART–A consortium

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundWHO recommends regular viral load (VL) monitoring of patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) for timely detection of virological failure, prevention of acquired HIV drug resistance (HIVDR) and avoiding unnecessary switching to second-line ART. However, the cost and complexity of routine VL testing remains prohibitive in most resource limited settings (RLS). We evaluated a simple, low-cost, qualitative viral-failure assay (VFA) on dried blood spots (DBS) in three clinical settings in Uganda.

methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study in three HIV/AIDS treatment centres at the Joint Clinical Research Centre in Uganda. The VFA employs semi-quantitative detection of HIV-1 RNA amplified from the LTR gene. We used paired dry blood spot (DBS) and plasma with the COBASAmpliPrep/COBASTaqMan, Roche version 2 (VLref) as the reference assay. We used the VFA at two thresholds of viral load, (>5,000 or >1,000 copies/ml).

results496 paired VFA and VLref results were available for comparative analysis. Overall, VFA demonstrated 78.4% sensitivity, (95% CI: 69.7%-87.1%), 93% specificity (95% CI: 89.7%-96.4%), 89.3% accuracy (95% CI: 85%-92%) and an agreement kappa = 0.72 as compared to the VLref. The predictive values of positivity and negativity among patients on ART for >12 months were 72.7% and 99.3%, respectively.

conclusionsVFA allowed 89% of correct classification of VF. Only 11% of the patients were misclassified with the potential of unnecessary or late switch to second-line ART. Our findings present an opportunity to roll out simple and affordable VL monitoring for HIV-1 treatment in RLS.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultAnti-Retroviral AgentsChildChild, PreschoolCross-Sectional StudiesFemaleHIV InfectionsHumansMaleMiddle AgedSpecimen HandlingUgandaViral LoadYoung AdultAnti-Retroviral Agents

Identifiers

PMID26824465
PMCPMC4732948

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.