ArticleBMJ open2025
Cohort profile: the Viral load Cohort North-East Lesotho (VICONEL) from 2016 to 2023 - cohort description, test volumes, predictors of viraemia and the road ahead.
Article in BMJ open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. 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.
- Cervical cancer screening delay and associated factors among women with HIV in Lesotho: a mixed-methods study.BMC women's health · 2024Trial
- Integrating clinical decision support and mobile health for differentiated HIV service delivery in Lesotho (VITAL): a cluster-randomised non-inferiority trial.EClinicalMedicine · 2026Article
- The peripartum viral load cascade and outcomes of infants exposed to HIV in Lesotho.HIV medicine · 2025Article
- Emergence of Acquired Dolutegravir Resistance in Treatment-experienced People With HIV in Lesotho.Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
23 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe prospective Viral load Cohort North-East Lesotho (VICONEL) aims to support clinical management and generate scientific evidence to inform HIV care. Specifically, VICONEL allows for the monitoring of HIV treatment outcomes and health system performance, encompasses a biobank for further research with routinely collected blood plasma samples of consenting participants and provides a valuable framework for nested observational and interventional studies.
participantsVICONEL captures routine viral load test results alongside associated demographic and treatment information among people in care for HIV in Lesotho, southern Africa. As of December 2023, it encompasses all viral load testing from 24 healthcare facilities in two districts of Lesotho. FINDINGS TO DATE: From January 2016 to December 2023, 137 660 viral load test results were available for 29 380 participants. At the time of the last viral load test, median age was 42 years (IQR: 33-53); 18 511 (63%) were adult women, 10 029 (34%) adult men and 835 (3%) children <15 years (age/sex missing for 5) and median time taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) was 6.4 years (IQR 3.2-9.9). Overall, the proportion of cohort participants with viral suppression to <1000 copies/mL has continually exceeded 90% and has been above 95% since 2020; however, this proportion has consistently been lower among children. Sex, age category/ART regimen core agent (combined variable), time since ART initiation and district were independently associated with viraemia. FUTURE PLANS: VICONEL offers potential for (1) further digitalisation and automation of results sharing at the client, facility and district/national level, (2) integration of additional clinical and diagnostic data, including comorbidities and drug resistance and (3) embedding randomised trials.
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Registered trials
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