Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36353191›Full record

ArticleSouthern African journal of HIV medicine2022

HIV viral load suppression before and after COVID-19 in Kinshasa and Haut Katanga, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Gulzar H Shah, Gina D Etheredge, Stacy W Smallwood, Lievain Maluantesa, Kristie C Waterfield, Osaremhen Ikhile, John Ditekemena, Elodie Engetele, Elizabeth Ayangunna, Astrid Mulenga and 1 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Southern African journal of HIV medicine, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 3 pooled it
1.1field-weighted citation impact, top 21% 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

7 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Article
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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

11 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.

Gulzar H ShahDepartment of Health Policy and Community Health, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0954-3418
Gina D EtheredgeFHI 360, Washington, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8470-7350
Stacy W SmallwoodJiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3611-0071
Lievain MaluantesaFHI 360, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1712-4400
Kristie C WaterfieldDepartment of Health Policy and Community Health, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9453-5801
Osaremhen IkhileDepartment of Health Policy and Community Health, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9887-1546
John DitekemenaFHI 360, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3022-4879
Elodie EngeteleFHI 360, Washington, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1999-9654
Elizabeth AyangunnaDepartment of Health Policy and Community Health, Jiann-Ping Hsu College of Public Health, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4418-7033
Astrid MulengaFHI 360, Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5640-7243
Bernard BossikyNational Multisectoral HIV/AIDS program (PNMLS), HIV Program, Presidency of DRC, Democratic Republic of the Congo.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4630-4136
Georgia Southern University · USFamily Health International 360 · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic resulted in unique programmatic opportunities to test hypotheses related to the initiation of antiretroviral treatment (ART) and viral load (VL) suppression during a global health crisis, which would not otherwise have been possible. Objectives: To generate practice-relevant evidence on the impact of initiating ART pre-COVID-19 versus during the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV VL. Method: Logistic regression was performed on data covering 6596 persons with HIV whose VL data were available, out of 36 585 persons who were initiated on ART between 01 April 2019 and 30 March 2021. Results: After controlling for covariates such as age, gender, duration on ART, tuberculosis status at the time of the last visit, and rural vs urban status, the odds of having a VL < 1000 copies/mL were significantly higher for clients who started ART during the COVID-19 pandemic than the year before COVID-19 (adjusted odds ratio [AOR]: 2.50; confidence interval [CI]: 1.55-4.01; Conclusion: Viral loads did not deteriorate despite pandemic-induced changes in HIV services such as the expansion of multi-month dispensing (MMD), which may have played a protective role regardless of the general negative impacts of response to the COVID-19 crises on communities and individuals. What this study adds: This research capitalises on the natural experiment of COVID-19-related changes in HIV services and provides new practice-relevant research evidence.

Indexed as

antiretroviral treatmentCOVID-19Democratic Republic of CongoHIVPLHIVviral load

Identifiers

PMID36353191
PMCPMC9634654
OpenAlexW4307509861

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.