Browsing by Author "Ujeneza, Eva L."
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- ItemImpact of age and sex on CD4+ cell count trajectories following treatment initiation : an analysis of the Tanzanian HIV treatment database(Public Library of Science, 2016) Means, Arianna R.; Risher, Kathryn A.; Ujeneza, Eva L.; Maposa, Innocent; Nondi, Joseph; Bellan, Steven E.Objective: New guidelines recommend that all HIV-infected individuals initiate antiretroviral treatment (ART) immediately following diagnosis. This study describes how immune reconstitution varies by gender and age to help identify poorly reconstituting subgroups and inform targeted testing initiatives. Design Longitudinal data from the outpatient monitoring system of the National AIDS Control Program in Tanzania. Methods: An asymptotic nonlinear mixed effects model was fit to post-treatment CD4+ cell count trajectories, allowing for fixed effects of age and sex, and an age by sex interaction. Results: Across 220,544 clinic visits from 32,069 HIV-infected patients, age- and sex-specific average CD4+ cell count at ART initiation ranged from 83–136 cells/mm3, long term asymptotic CD4+ cell count ranged from 301–389 cells/mm3, and time to half of maximal CD4+ reconstitution ranged from 3.57–5.68 months. CD4+ cell count at ART initiation and asymptotic CD4+ cell count were 1.28 (95% CI: 1.18–1.40) and 1.25 (95% CI: 1.20–1.31) times higher, respectively, for females compared to males in the youngest age group (19–29 years). Older patients started treatment at higher CD4+ counts but experienced slower CD4+ recovery than younger adults. Treatment initiation at greater CD4+ cell counts was correlated with greater asymptotic CD4+ cell counts within all sex and age groups. Conclusion: Older adults should initiate care early in disease progression because total immune reconstitution potential and rate of reconstitution appears to decrease with age. Targeted HIV testing and care linkage remains crucial for patient populations who tend to initiate treatment at lower CD4+ cell counts, including males and younger adults.
- ItemSystematic review of statistically-derived models of immunological response in HIV-infected adults on antiretroviral therapy in Sub-Saharan Africa(Public Library of Science, 2017-02-15) Sempa, Joseph B.; Ujeneza, Eva L.; Nieuwoudt, MartinIntroduction: In Sub-Saharan African (SSA) resource limited settings, Cluster of Differentiation 4 (CD4) counts continue to be used for clinical decision making in antiretroviral therapy (ART). Here, HIV-infected people often remain with CD4 counts <350 cells/μL even after 5 years of viral load suppression. Ongoing immunological monitoring is necessary. Due to varying statistical modeling methods comparing immune response to ART across different cohorts is difficult. We systematically review such models and detail the similarities, differences and problems. Methods: ‘Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses’ guidelines were used. Only studies of immune-response after ART initiation from SSA in adults were included. Data was extracted from each study and tabulated. Outcomes were categorized into 3 groups: ‘slope’, ‘survival’, and ‘asymptote’ models. Wordclouds were drawn wherein the frequency of variables occurring in the reviewed models is indicated by their size and color. Results: 69 covariates were identified in the final models of 35 studies. Effect sizes of covariates were not directly quantitatively comparable in view of the combination of differing variables and scale transformation methods across models. Wordclouds enabled the identification of qualitative and semi-quantitative covariate sets for each outcome category. Comparison across categories identified sex, baseline age, baseline log viral load, baseline CD4, ART initiation regimen and ART duration as a minimal consensus set. Conclusion: Most models were different with respect to covariates included, variable transformations and scales, model assumptions, modelling strategies and reporting methods, even for the same outcomes. To enable comparison across cohorts, statistical models would benefit from the application of more uniform modelling techniques. Historic efforts have produced results that are anecdotal to individual cohorts only. This study was able to define ‘prior’ knowledge in the Bayesian sense. Such information has value for prospective modelling efforts.