-
Expert Review of Vaccines Sep 2019: In Asia Pacific, most countries recommend a monovalent hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine dose at birth followed by primary vaccination series including three or four...
Integration of hexavalent diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis, hepatitis B virus, inactivated poliomyelitis and Haemophilus influenzae type b conjugate vaccine within existing national recommendations following a birth dose of monovalent hepatitis B virus vaccine: results of a systematic...
: In Asia Pacific, most countries recommend a monovalent hepatitis B virus (HBV) vaccine dose at birth followed by primary vaccination series including three or four doses of combination vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, with or without type b (Hib), HBV or poliomyelitis antigens. If hexavalent conjugate vaccines against diphtheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis-HBV-inactivated poliovirus-Hib (DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib) replace the vaccines included in the primary vaccination series, co-administration of lower-valent vaccines would be avoided but infants would receive ≥4 doses of HBV-containing vaccines before the age of 2 years. : We searched for clinical trials conducted in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions (World Health Organization geographic definition), investigating vaccination regimens with >3 doses of HBV-containing vaccines in infants, including a monovalent HBV vaccine birth dose and ≥1 dose of GSK's hexavalent DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib vaccine. : The six clinical trials included in this review showed that infants who received the monovalent HBV vaccine at birth and three or four doses of DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib vaccine achieved protective immunogenic titers with a clinically acceptable safety profile. Our results support the integration of hexavalent DTPa-HBV-IPV/Hib vaccine within existing national recommendations in the Asia Pacific region to reduce the number of injections during infancy.
Topics: Databases, Factual; Diphtheria; Diphtheria-Tetanus-acellular Pertussis Vaccines; Haemophilus Infections; Haemophilus influenzae type b; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B Vaccines; Hepatitis B virus; Humans; Immunization Schedule; Poliomyelitis; Tetanus; Vaccines, Combined; Vaccines, Conjugate; Whooping Cough
PubMed: 31328999
DOI: 10.1080/14760584.2019.1646643 -
The Indian Journal of Medical Research Nov 2023The prong 2 of 4 prong strategy introduced by the World Health Organization aims at averting unintended pregnancies among people living with HIV (PLHIV). This systematic... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
BACKGROUND OBJECTIVES
The prong 2 of 4 prong strategy introduced by the World Health Organization aims at averting unintended pregnancies among people living with HIV (PLHIV). This systematic review aimed to generate evidence on the effectuality of facility-based interventions in improving uptake of modern and dual contraception, for reducing unmet family planning (FP) needs and unintended pregnancies among PLHIV.
METHODS
Articles evaluating facility-based interventions to integrate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and FP published in English language were included. Eligible studies were identified from electronic and lateral search from three databases (PubMed, Cochrane Library and Web of Science) and grey literature. HIV care with no/minimal focus on FP was considered a comparator. Quality was assessed using design-appropriate tools. Descriptive analysis was presented in tables. Uptake of dual methods, unmet FP needs and unintended pregnancies were included in the meta-analysis to estimate pooled odds ratio (OR) with random effect model, P and I2 values.
RESULTS
The search yielded 2112 results. After excluding duplicates and unfit articles, 17 were found eligible for review and nine for meta-analysis. The pooled OR for uptake of dual contraception was 1.69 (1.14, 2.5) ( P =0.008; I2 =90%), for unmet FP needs was 0.58 (0487, 0.69) ( P <0.00001; I2 =0%) and for unintended pregnancies was 0.6 (0.32, 1.1) ( P =0.1, I2 =38%).
INTERPRETATION CONCLUSIONS
The results of this meta-analysis suggest that health facility-based interventions to integrate HIV and FP services do result in improved uptake of dual methods and reduce unmet need for contraception along with a protective trend on incidence of unintended pregnancies. Such facility-based integration would ensure universal access to effective contraception and facilitate in achieving Sustainable Development Goals that aim at ending epidemics like HIV.
Topics: Female; Humans; Pregnancy; Contraception; Family Planning Services; HIV; HIV Infections
PubMed: 38143434
DOI: 10.4103/ijmr.ijmr_2471_22 -
The Lancet. Digital Health Nov 2020Evidence for the use of automated or partly automated contact-tracing tools to contain severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is scarce. We did a systematic...
Evidence for the use of automated or partly automated contact-tracing tools to contain severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 is scarce. We did a systematic review of automated or partly automated contact tracing. We searched PubMed, EMBASE, OVID Global Health, EBSCO Medical COVID Information Portal, Cochrane Library, medRxiv, bioRxiv, arXiv, and Google Advanced for articles relevant to COVID-19, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Middle East respiratory syndrome, influenza, or Ebola virus, published from Jan 1, 2000, to April 14, 2020. We also included studies identified through professional networks up to April 30, 2020. We reviewed all full-text manuscripts. Primary outcomes were the number or proportion of contacts (or subsequent cases) identified. Secondary outcomes were indicators of outbreak control, uptake, resource use, cost-effectiveness, and lessons learnt. This study is registered with PROSPERO (CRD42020179822). Of the 4036 studies identified, 110 full-text studies were reviewed and 15 studies were included in the final analysis and quality assessment. No empirical evidence of the effectiveness of automated contact tracing (regarding contacts identified or transmission reduction) was identified. Four of seven included modelling studies that suggested that controlling COVID-19 requires a high population uptake of automated contact-tracing apps (estimates from 56% to 95%), typically alongside other control measures. Studies of partly automated contact tracing generally reported more complete contact identification and follow-up compared with manual systems. Automated contact tracing could potentially reduce transmission with sufficient population uptake. However, concerns regarding privacy and equity should be considered. Well designed prospective studies are needed given gaps in evidence of effectiveness, and to investigate the integration and relative effects of manual and automated systems. Large-scale manual contact tracing is therefore still key in most contexts.
Topics: Automation; COVID-19; Contact Tracing; Humans
PubMed: 32839755
DOI: 10.1016/S2589-7500(20)30184-9 -
PloS One 2024Influenza viruses pose a significant public health threat, necessitating comprehensive surveillance strategies to enhance early detection and preventive measures. This...
Influenza viruses pose a significant public health threat, necessitating comprehensive surveillance strategies to enhance early detection and preventive measures. This systematic review investigates the incidence of influenza viruses in wastewater matrices, aiming to elucidate the potential implications for public health. The study synthesizes existing literature, employing rigorous inclusion criteria to identify relevant studies conducted globally. The essence of the problem lies in the gaps of traditional surveillance methods, which often rely on clinical data and may underestimate the true prevalence of influenza within communities. Wastewater-based epidemiology offers a novel approach to supplementing these conventional methods, providing a broader and more representative assessment of viral circulation. This review systematically examines the methodologies employed in the selected studies, including virus concentration techniques and molecular detection methods, to establish a standardized framework for future research. Our findings reveal a consistent presence of influenza viruses in diverse wastewater matrices across different geographic locations and seasons. Recommendations for future research include the standardization of sampling protocols, improvement of virus concentration methods, and the integration of wastewater surveillance into existing public health frameworks. In conclusion, this systematic review contributes to the understanding of influenza dynamics in wastewater matrices, offering valuable insights for public health practitioners and policymakers. Implementation of wastewater surveillance alongside traditional methods can enhance the resilience of public health systems and better prepare communities for the challenges posed by influenza outbreaks.
Topics: Wastewater; Humans; Public Health; Influenza, Human; Incidence; Orthomyxoviridae
PubMed: 38662758
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0291900 -
PloS One 2017Discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces the immunological benefit of treatment and increases complications related to human immune-deficiency virus... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
BACKGROUND
Discontinuation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) reduces the immunological benefit of treatment and increases complications related to human immune-deficiency virus (HIV). However, the risk factors for ART discontinuation are poorly understood in developing countries particularly in Ethiopia. This review aimed to assess the best available evidence regarding risk factors for ART discontinuation in Ethiopia.
METHODS
Quantitative studies conducted in Ethiopia between 2002 and 2015 that evaluated factors associated with ART discontinuation were sought across six major databases. Only English language articles were included. This review considered studies that included the following outcome: ART treatment discontinuation, i.e. 'lost to follow up', 'defaulting' and 'stopping medication'. Meta- analysis was performed with Mantel Haenszel method using Revman-5 software. Summary statistics were expressed as pooled odds ratio with 95% confidence intervals at a p-value of <0.05.
RESULTS
Nine (9) studies met the criteria of the search. Five (5) were retrospective studies, 3 were case control studies, and 1 was a prospective cohort study. The total sample size in the included studies was 62,156. Being rural dweller (OR = 2.1, 95%CI: 1.5-2.7, I2 = 60%), being illiterate (OR = 1.5, 95%CI: 1.1-2.1), being not married (OR = 1.4, 95%CI: 1.1-1.8), being alcohol drinker (OR = 2.9, 95%CI: 1.9-4.4, I2 = 39%), being tobacco smoker (OR = 2.6, 95%CI: 1.6-4.3, I2 = 74%), having mental illness (OR = 2.7, 95%CI: 1.6-4.6, I2 = 0%) and being bed ridden functional status (OR = 2.3, 95%CI: 1.5-3.4, I2 = 37%) were risk factors for ART discontinuation. Whereas, having HIV positive partner (OR = 0.4, 95%CI: 0.3-0.6, I2 = 69%) and being co-infected with Tb/HIV (OR = 0.6, 95%CI: 0.4-0.9, I2 = 0%) were protective factors.
CONCLUSION
Demographic, behavioral and clinical factors influenced ART treatment discontinuation. Hence, we recommend strengthening decentralization of HIV care services in remote areas, strengthening of ART task shifting, application of seek-test-treat-succeed model, and integration of smoking cession strategies and mental health care into the routine HIV care program.
Topics: Adult; Anti-HIV Agents; Ethiopia; Female; HIV Infections; Humans; Male; Risk Factors
PubMed: 28107430
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169651 -
F1000Research 2020Geographic information science (GIS) has established itself as a distinct domain and incredibly useful whenever the research is related to geography, space, and other...
Geographic information science (GIS) has established itself as a distinct domain and incredibly useful whenever the research is related to geography, space, and other spatio-temporal dimensions. However, the scientific landscape on the integration of GIS in COVID-related studies is largely unknown. In this systematic review, we assessed the current evidence on the implementation of GIS and other geospatial tools in the COVID-19 pandemic. We systematically retrieved and reviewed 79 research articles that either directly used GIS or other geospatial tools as part of their analysis. We grouped the identified papers under six broader thematic groups based on the objectives and research questions of the study- environmental, socio-economic, and cultural, public health, spatial transmission, computer-aided modeling, and data mining. The interdisciplinary nature of how geographic and spatial analysis was used in COVID-19 research was notable among the reviewed papers. Geospatial techniques, especially WebGIS, have even been widely used to visualize the data on a map and were critical to informing the public regarding the spread of the virus, especially during the early days of the pandemic. This review not only provided an overarching view on how GIS has been used in COVID-19 research so far but also concluded that geospatial analysis and technologies could be used in future public health emergencies along with statistical and other socio-economic modeling techniques. Our review also highlighted how scientific communities and policymakers could leverage GIS to extract useful information to make an informed decision in the future. Despite the limited applications of GIS in identifying the nature and spatio-temporal pattern of this raging pandemic, there are opportunities to utilize these techniques in handling the pandemic. The use of spatial analysis and GIS could significantly improve how we understand the pandemic as well as address the underserviced demographic groups and communities.
Topics: COVID-19; Geographic Information Systems; Humans; Information Science; Pandemics; SARS-CoV-2
PubMed: 35186280
DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.27544.2 -
Depression Research and Treatment 2020Low- and middle-income countries of which Ethiopia is one bears the high burden of depression among human immune deficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome...
BACKGROUND
Low- and middle-income countries of which Ethiopia is one bears the high burden of depression among human immune deficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) patients. Several factors have been identified as being associated with increased depression among HIV/AIDS patients including poor social support. However, studies examining the effect of poor social support on depression among HIV/AIDS patients in Ethiopia have had inconsistent findings. This systematic review and meta-analysis is therefore aimed at estimating the pooled effect of poor social support on depression among HIV/AIDS patients in Ethiopia.
METHODS
All relevant articles published prior to July 1, 2020, were retrieved from scientific databases: PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar systematically. The identified studies reporting the association of depression and poor social support among HIV patients in Ethiopia were included. tests were used to assess the heterogeneity of the studies. Subgroup analysis was done based on tools to determine how pooled estimates of depression vary across tools. The pooled estimate of association between poor social support and depression was reported.
RESULTS
The aggregated meta-analysis revealed a higher odds of depression among patients with poor social support than those who had strong social support (OR: 2.31, 95% CI: 1.69, 2.93). The pooled prevalence of depression among HIV/AIDS patients in Ethiopia was 38.93% (95%: CI: 32.01, 45.84); ( = 94.44%, ≤ 0.001). The subgroup analysis was performed based on tools, and the result showed that the highest pooled prevalence (44.42%) was among primary studies that used the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) tool.
CONCLUSIONS
Human immune deficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) patients with poor social support were more likely to develop depression. The pooled prevalence of depression among HIV/AIDS patient was high in Ethiopia. The highest prevalence of depression was observed among studies that used HADS to screen depression. Therefore, we recommend integration of mental health and psychosocial support services into the HIV/AIDS care. Prevention of HIV/AIDS-related stigma for people with HIV/AIDS is also needed to reduce the impact of poor social support.
PubMed: 33489371
DOI: 10.1155/2020/6633686 -
Annals of Hematology Nov 2019Ecotropic virus integration site-1 (EVI1) is frequently expressed in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Many studies have reported the potential poor prognostic... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis
Ecotropic virus integration site-1 (EVI1) is frequently expressed in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Many studies have reported the potential poor prognostic impact of EVI1 higher expression (EVI1) in the AML patients; however, the conclusions previously reported have not been fully assessed and are still controversial. Therefore, we performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the prognostic significance of EVI1 in patients with AML. The primary endpoint was overall survival (OS), and the event-free survival (EFS) was selected as the secondary endpoint. We extracted the hazard ratio (HR) and their 95% confidence interval (CI) for the OS and EFS from the multivariate COX proportional hazard models. A total of 4767 AML patients from 11 studies up to 23 February 2019 were subjected to our meta-analysis. Pooled HRs suggested that EVI1 had an adverse impact on OS (HR = 1.52, 95%CI 1.24-1.86) and EFS (HR = 1.41, 95%CI 1.14-1.74) in AML patients. EVI1 was also associated with a shorter OS (HR = 1.73, 95%CI 1.43-2.11) and EFS (HR = 1.17, 95%CI 1.05-1.31) in AML patients with the intermediate cytogenetic risk (ICR) according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN), European leukemia network (ELN), or International System for Human Cytogenetic Nomenclature (ISCN). Furthermore, EVI1 appeared to be a poor prognosis indicator in patients with normal cytogenetics (NC) (HR for OS:2.01, 95%CI 1.32-3.05; HR for EFS 1.54, 95%CI 1.09-2.17) and young patients (HR for OS 1.30, 95%CI 1.09-1.55), respectively. This meta-analysis indicates EVI1 has an independent and significantly adverse prognostic impact on AML patients in the entire population, and this conclusion same applies to some subgroups like AML patients with ICR, NC, and young AML patients.
Topics: Age Factors; Disease-Free Survival; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Humans; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute; MDS1 and EVI1 Complex Locus Protein; Risk Factors; Survival Rate
PubMed: 31482295
DOI: 10.1007/s00277-019-03774-z -
Scientific Reports Dec 2023Childhood HBV immunization remains globally fundamental to the elimination of hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, monitoring proportions of HBV vaccine seroprotection and...
Childhood HBV immunization remains globally fundamental to the elimination of hepatitis B virus (HBV). However, monitoring proportions of HBV vaccine seroprotection and their determinants among African Pediatric recipients is crucial. This study sought to verify extent of immune protection accorded by the HBV vaccine in African children of up to 17 years of age by pooling the prevalence of seroprotection reported by primary studies conducted in the Northern, Western, and Southern African regions. We included 19 eligible articles out of the 197 initially downloaded, published from 1999 to 2021 from African Journals Online (AJOL), EMBASE, Scopus, and PubMed. The study protocol was registered with the International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews (PROSPERO), University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination, under the registration number CRD42022361277. Significantly higher (p < 0.0001) proportion of HBV vaccine seroprotection (69.07%) was found among children under 15 years of age than children 15-17 years (32.368%), 95% CI [34.2454-39.0847%]. Whereas successful integration of the HBV vaccine on the extended programs on immunizations (EPI) has been a major achievement in the reduction of HBV infection in Africa, markedly reduced HBV vaccine seroprotection is persistently demonstrated among adolescent children 15-17 years of age. Future studies are required to clarify the need for booster dose vaccination in most at risk populations and age groups.
Topics: Adolescent; Child; Humans; Hepatitis B; Hepatitis B Antibodies; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; Hepatitis B Vaccines; Hepatitis B virus
PubMed: 38092870
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-49674-1 -
Maternal and Child Health Journal Jul 2019Introduction The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had the second-highest mother-to-child HIV transmission rate in Sub-Saharan Africa at 29% in 2013, however the...
Introduction The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had the second-highest mother-to-child HIV transmission rate in Sub-Saharan Africa at 29% in 2013, however the uptake of preventive services for mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) remains suboptimal. This systematic review explores socio-cultural and structural factors influencing PMTCT service uptake in the DRC. Methods We conducted a search of electronic databases. The PEN-3 model was used as a framework to synthesize factors influencing PMTCT service uptake into perceptions, enablers, and nurturers. Results Sixteen studies, 14 quantitative and two qualitative, were retained. Maternal, socio-economic, structural, and cultural factors were found to influence PMTCT service uptake in the DRC. Cost, accessibility, and quality of PMTCT services were key barriers to service uptake. Integration, male partner involvement, and evolving PMTCT policies improved PMTCT service delivery and uptake. This review also revealed several socio-cultural challenges in involving male partners in PMTCT programs. Discussion Findings highlight the need to address barriers and reinforce enablers of PMTCT uptake. Creating culturally appropriate, male-friendly, and family-oriented PMTCT programs will improve service uptake in the DRC.
Topics: Adult; Aftercare; Democratic Republic of the Congo; Female; HIV Infections; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical; Male; Pregnancy; Preventive Health Services; Quality Improvement; Socioeconomic Factors
PubMed: 30600507
DOI: 10.1007/s10995-018-2688-6