Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27408611›Full record

ArticleAIDS research and therapy2016

Risk factors for unstructured treatment interruptions and association with survival in low to middle income countries.

James H McMahon, Tim Spelman, Nathan Ford, Jane Greig, Anita Mesic, Charles Ssonko, Esther C Casas, Daniel P O'Brien

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in AIDS research and therapy, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
0.2field-weighted citation impact, top 39% of its field
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

1 citing paper in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. 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

8 authors at 6 institutions in 4 countries.

James H McMahonInfectious Diseases, Monash University and Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Australia ; Burnet Institute, Centre for Population Health, Melbourne, Australia.
Tim SpelmanBurnet Institute, Centre for Population Health, Melbourne, Australia.
Nathan FordInfectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa ; Division of Infectious Diseases, Imperial College London, London, UK.
Jane GreigManson Unit, Médecins Sans Frontières, London, UK.
Anita MesicPublic Health Department, Médecins Sans Frontières, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Charles SsonkoManson Unit, Médecins Sans Frontières, London, UK.
Esther C CasasPublic Health Department, Médecins Sans Frontières, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Daniel P O'BrienManson Unit, Médecins Sans Frontières, London, UK ; Department of Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Royal Melbourne Hospital, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Médecins Sans Frontières · NLMédecins Sans Frontières‎ · GBBurnet Institute · AUMonash University · AUThe Royal Melbourne Hospital · AUUniversity of Cape Town · ZA

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAntiretroviral therapy (ART) treatment interruptions lead to poor clinical outcomes with unplanned or unstructured TIs (uTIs) likely to be underreported. This study describes; uTIs, their risk factors and association with survival.

methodsAnalysis of ART programmatic data from 11 countries across Asia and Africa between 2003 and 2013 where an uTI was defined as a ≥90-day patient initiated break from ART calculated from the last day the previous ART prescription would have run out until the date of the next ART prescription. Factors predicting uTI were assessed with a conditional risk-set multiple failure time-to-event model to account for repeated events per subject. Association between uTI and mortality was assessed using Cox proportional hazards, with a competing risks extension to test for the influence of lost to follow-up (LTFU).

results40,632 patients were included from 11 countries across 33 sites (17 Africa, 16 Asia). Median duration of follow-up was 1.61 years (IQR 0.54-3.31 years), 3386 (8.3 %) patients died, and 3453 (8.5 %) were LTFU. There were 14,817 uTIs, with 10,162 (25 %) patients having more than one uTI. In the adjusted model males were at lower risk of uTI (aHR 0.94, p < 0.01, and age 20-59 was protective compared to <20 years (20-39 years aHR 0.87, p < 0.01; 40-59 years aHR 0.86, p < 0.01). Preserved immune function, as measured by higher CD4 cell count, was associated with a reduced rate of uTI compared to CD4 <200 cells/μL (CD4 200-350 cells/μL aHR 0.89, p < 0.01; CD4 >350 cells/μL aHR 0.87, p < 0.01), whereas advanced clinical disease was associated with increased uTI rate (WHO stage 3 aHR 1.10, p < 0.01; WHO stage 4 aHR 1.21, p < 0.01). There was no relationship between uTI and mortality after adjusting for disease status and considering LTFU as a competing risk.

conclusionsuTIs were frequent in people in ART programs in low-middle income countries and associated with younger age, female gender and advanced HIV. uTI did not predict survival when loss to follow-up was considered a competing risk. Further evaluation of uTI predictors and interventions to reduce their occurrence is warranted.

Indexed as

Drug MonitoringAdultAfricaAge FactorsAnti-HIV AgentsAsiaCD4 Lymphocyte CountDeveloping CountriesFemaleHIV InfectionsHumansMaleMiddle AgedProportional Hazards ModelsRisk FactorsSex FactorsAnti-HIV AgentsAntiretroviral therapyClinical outcomesEpidemiologyResource limited settingsSurvivalUnstructured treatment interruption

Identifiers

PMID27408611
PMCPMC4940870
OpenAlexW2474520554

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
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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.