Trial reportBMC palliative care2017
The impact of antiretroviral therapy on symptom burden among HIV outpatients with low CD4 count in rural Uganda: nested longitudinal cohort study.
Trial report in BMC palliative care, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Self-Reported Health-Related Quality of Life and Residual Symptoms among Virologically Suppressed People Living with HIV in the Era of Single-Tablet Regimens in Taiwan: A Cross-Sectional Study.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Article
- Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment in Older Persons With HIV.Open forum infectious diseases · 2020Review
- Effect of Baseline Symptom Manifestations on Retention in Care and Treatment among HIV-Infected Patients in Nigeria.Journal of the International Association of Providers of AIDS CareArticle
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIndividuals with HIV have a high prevalence of physical and psychological symptoms throughout their disease course. Despite the clinical and public health implications of unresolved pain and symptoms, little is known about the effect of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) on these outcomes. This study aimed to assess the impact on symptom burden for the year after ART initiation in individuals with a CD4 count <200 cells/uL in Uganda.
methodsHIV-infected, ART-naıve adults referred from voluntary testing and counseling services in rural Uganda for enrollment into a randomized controlled trial to test fluconazole as primary prophylaxis against cryptococcal disease were invited to complete the Memorial Symptom Assessment Scale-Short Form (MSAS-SF) prior to commencing ART and at two subsequent follow up visits. This tool measures self-reported 7-day period prevalence and associated burden of physical and psychological symptoms. Changes in the total number of symptoms and distress indices with time on ART and trial arm were investigated through fitting Linear Mixed Models for repeated measures.
resultsDuring the first year of ART initiation the prevalence of most individual symptoms remained constant. The notable exceptions which improved after commencing ART are as follow; prevalence of pain (prevalence changed from 79% to 60%), weight loss (67% to 31%), lack of appetite (46% to 28%), feeling sad (52% to 25%) and difficulty sleeping (35% to 23%). The total number of symptoms and distress indices reduced after treatment commenced. Of concern was that half or more study participants remained with symptoms of pain (60%), itching (57%), skin changes (53%) and numbness in hands and feet (52%) after starting ART. Sixteen symptoms remained with a burden of 25% or more.
conclusionDespite the beneficial effect of ART on reducing symptoms, some patients continue to experience a high symptom burden. It is essential that HIV services in sub-Saharan Africa integrate management of symptoms into their programmes.
trial registrationCRYPTOPRO [ISRCTN 76481529 ], November 2004.
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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.