SynthesisPloS one2018
Linkage to HIV care following diagnosis in the WHO European Region: A systematic review and meta-analysis, 2006-2017.
Synthesis in PloS one, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 27 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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.
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Who cites it
27 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Strategies for improving linkage to HIV care after hospital discharge among adults living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2025Pooled it
- Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Linkage to HIV Care Interventions in the United States, Canada, and Ukraine (2010-2021).AIDS and behavior · 2023Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Linkage to HIV care following diagnosis in the WHO European Region: A systematic review and meta-analysis, 2006-2017.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- Trial
- Prevalence of late presentation of HIV among older adults in Asia: a systematic review and meta-analysis protocol.Systematic reviews · 2026Article
- Provider, researcher, and community perspectives on comorbidities affecting the health-related quality of life of people living with HIV in Spain.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Community-Based Rapid Testing for HIV in Europe and Central Asia: A Narrative Review of Models, Effectiveness, and Implementation Challenges.Infection and drug resistance · 2026Review
- Key factors influencing retention in care among people living with HIV in Turkey: a 5-year retrospective analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Retention outcomes during same-day antiretroviral therapy initiation in health facilities and outreach settings of Rakai, Uganda, 2016-2021.HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Understanding effective post-test linkage strategies for HIV prevention and care: a scoping review.Journal of the International AIDS Society · 2024Article
- HIV treatment, antiretroviral adherence and AIDS mortality in people who inject drugs: a scoping review.European journal of public health · 2023Article
- Same-Day ART Initiation and Associated Factors Among People Living with HIV on Lifelong Therapy at Nekemte Specialized Hospital, Western Ethiopia.HIV/AIDS (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2023Article
- Article
- Preference towards HIV Self-Testing above Other Testing Options in a Sample of Men Who Have Sex with Men from Five European Countries.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Article
- Potential of HIV Self-Sampling to Increase Testing Frequency Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex With Men, and the Role of Online Result Communication: Online Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of medical Internet research · 2020Article
- The contribution of HIV point-of-care tests in early HIV diagnosis: community-based HIV testing monitoring in Catalonia, 1995 to 2018.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2020Article
- Barriers and Facilitators of Same-Day Antiretroviral Therapy Initiation Among People Newly Diagnosed with HIV in Ethiopia: Qualitative Study Using the Transtheoretical Model of Behavioral Change.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTimely linkage to care after HIV diagnosis is crucial as delayed access can result in poor patient outcomes. The aim of this systematic review was to synthesise the evidence to achieve a better understanding of what proportion of patients are linked to care and what factors impact linkage.
methodsSystematic searches were run in six databases up to the end of February 2017. The grey literature was also reviewed. Inclusion criteria were: sample size ≥50 people (aged ≥15), from the WHO European Region, published 2006-2017 and in English. Linkage to care was defined as a patient seen for HIV care after diagnosis. Study selection, data extraction and quality assurance were performed by two independent reviewers. Random-effects meta-analysis was carried out to summarise linkage to care within three months of diagnosis.
resultsTwenty-four studies were included; 22 presented linkage to care data and seven examined factors for linkage. Linkage among 89,006 people in 19 countries was captured. Meta-analysis, restricted to 12 studies and measuring prompt linkage within three months, gave a pooled estimate of 85% (95% CI: 75%-93%). Prompt linkage was higher in studies including only people in care (94%; 95% CI: 91%-97%) than in those of all new diagnoses (71%; 95% CI: 50%-87%). Heterogeneity was high across and within strata (>99%). Factors associated with delaying or not linking to care included: acquiring HIV through heterosexual contact/injecting drug use, younger age at diagnosis, lower levels of education, feeling well at diagnosis and diagnosis outside an STI clinic.
conclusionOverall, linkage to care was high, though estimates were lower in studies with a high proportion of people who inject drugs. The high heterogeneity between studies made it challenging to synthesise findings. Studies should adopt a standardised definition with a three month cut-off to measure prompt linkage to care to ensure comparability.
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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.