Observational studyBMC infectious diseases2016
Viral load monitoring and antiretroviral treatment outcomes in a pediatric HIV cohort in Ghana.
Observational study in BMC infectious diseases, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pneumonia in Ghana: prevalence, mortality and antimicrobial resistance-a systematic review and meta-analysis.International health · 2026Pooled it
- Systematic review on cumulative HIV viraemia among people living with HIV receiving antiretroviral treatment and its association with mortality and morbidity.International health · 2024Pooled it
- Prevalence and associated factors of treatment failure among children on ART in Ethiopia: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2022Pooled it
- Virologic response of treatment experienced HIV-infected Ugandan children and adolescents on NNRTI based first-line regimen, previously monitored without viral load.BMC pediatrics · 2021Trial
- Article
- Replicative co-infections with human immunodeficiency virus 1 and 2 as well as hepatitis B and C virus in Ghanaian individuals.European journal of microbiology & immunology · 2024Article
- Article
- Quality of antiretroviral therapy services in Ghana: Implications for the HIV response in resource-constrained settings.SAGE open medicine · 2021Article
- Antiretroviral Treatment Failure and Associated Factors Among HIV-Infected Children on Antiretroviral Therapy: A Retrospective Study.HIV/AIDS (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2021Article
- Long-Term Immunological and Virological Outcomes in Children Receiving Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy at Hawassa University College of Medicine and Health Sciences, Southern Ethiopia.Journal of immunology research · 2021Article
- Bias in the estimation of cumulative viremia in cohort studies of HIV-infected individuals.Annals of epidemiology · 2019Article
- Treatment failure and associated factors among first line patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Global health research and policy · 2019Article
- Article
- Long-term virological outcome in children receiving first-line antiretroviral therapy.AIDS research and therapy · 2018Article
- Immunologic and virological response to ART among HIV infected individuals at a tertiary hospital in Ghana.BMC infectious diseases · 2018Article
- Sustainable Survival for adolescents living with HIV: do SDG-aligned provisions reduce potential mortality risk?Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2018Article
- Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHIV-infected children in sub-Saharan Africa may be at a high risk of staying on a failing first-line regimen and developing drug-resistance HIV variants due to lack of routine viral load monitoring. We investigated whether cumulative viral load, measured as viremia copy-years (VCY) could predict morbidity in a setting where viral load is not routinely monitored.
methodsThis was a single-center prospective observational longitudinal study of HIV-infected children initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) at the Pediatric HIV/AIDS Care program at Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana. The main outcome was morbidity measured as frequency of hospitalizations, opportunistic infections, and outpatient sick visits. The main explanatory variable was viral load measured as VCY.
resultsThe study included 140 children who initiated ART between September 2009 and May 2013 and had at least 2 viral load measurements. There were 184 hospitalizations, with pneumonia being the most common cause (22.8 %). A total of 102 opportunistic infections was documented, with tuberculosis being the most common opportunistic infection (68 %). A total of 823 outpatient sick visits was documented, with upper respiratory infections (14.2 %) being the most common cause. Forty-four percent of our study participants had >4 log10 VCY. Children in this sub-cohort had a higher frequency of sick visits compared with those with <4 log10 VCY (p = 0.03). Only 6.5 % of children with >4 log10 VCY had been identified as treatment failure using WHO clinical and immunological treatment failure criteria.
conclusionsHigh level of cumulative viral load may translate to virological failure and subsequent increased all-cause morbidity. Our finding of potential utility of VCY in pediatrics warrants further investigations. VCY may be a good alternate to routine viral load measurement as its determination may be less frequent and could be personalized to save cost.
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