The pharmacotherapeutic management of people living with HIV (PLWHIV) undergoing solid organ transplantation (SOT) is clinically challenging, mainly due to the frequent occurrence of complex ...drug-drug interactions. Although various strategies have been proposed to improve treatment outcomes in these patients, several uncertainties remain, and consensus practice guidelines are just beginning to emerge. The main objective of this scoping review was to map the extent of the literature on the pharmacotherapeutic interventions performed by healthcare professionals for PLWHIV undergoing SOT.
We searched Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane databases as well as gray literature for articles published between January 2010 and February 2020. Study selection was performed by at least 2 independent reviewers. Articles describing pharmacotherapeutic interventions in PLWHIV considered for or undergoing SOT were included in the study.
Of the 12 599 references identified through our search strategy, 209 articles met the inclusion criteria. Results showed that the vast majority of reported pharmacotherapeutic interventions concerned the management of immunosuppressive and antimicrobial therapy, including antiretrovirals. Analysis of the data demonstrated that for several aspects of the pharmacotherapeutic management of PLWHIV undergoing SOT, there were differing practices, such as the choice of immunosuppressive induction and maintenance therapy. Other important aspects of patient management, such as patient counseling, were rarely reported.
Our results constitute an extensive overview of current practices in the pharmacotherapeutic management of SOT in PLWHIV and identify knowledge gaps that should be addressed to help improve patient care in this specific population.
Background Uptake of treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV) is low in Canada despite its publicly funded health care system. We explored the uptake of HCV treatment within the Canadian Co-infection ...Cohort to determine if some treatment centres have been more successful than others at starting patients with HIV–HCV coinfection on HCV treatment. Methods We estimated the variation between 16 centres in the uptake of HCV treatment using a Weibull time-to-event model with adjustment for patient characteristics that are thought likely to influence the uptake of treatment. We asked the principal investigator at each centre about access to hepatitis-related specialists and services and the importance of various criteria when determining if a patient with HIV–HCV coinfection should receive treatment for HCV. Results Among 681 untreated patients in the Canadian Co-infection Cohort, 163 patients with HIV–HCV coinfection started HCV treatment over a period of 1827 patient-years (9 per 100 patient-years). Even after adjustment for case mix, there was still appreciable variation in treatment uptake between centres, with mean hazard ratios of 0.43 (95% credible interval 0.11–1.3) and 3.6 (95% credible interval 1.7–8.4) for the centres least and most likely to start an average patient with HIV–HCV coinfection on HCV treatment. The most important criteria reported by principal investigators for determining eligibility for treatment were severity of fibrosis, current psychiatric comorbidities, current alcohol intake, past HCV treatment and a history of reinfection with HCV. However, the opinions were wide-ranging: 8 of the 15 criteria elicited both the responses “less important” and “very important.” Interpretation The magnitude of the centre effects and diverse opinions about the importance of treatment eligibility criteria suggest that provider-related barriers to HCV treatment uptake are as important as patient-related barriers.
Background In Canada, interferon-free, direct-acting antiviral hepatitis C virus (HCV) regimens are costly. This presents challenges for universal drug coverage of the estimated 220 000 people with ...chronic HCV infection nationwide. The study objective was to appraise criteria for reimbursement of 4 HCV direct-acting antivirals in Canada. Methods We reviewed the reimbursement criteria for simeprevir, sofosbuvir, ledipasvir-sofosbuvir and paritaprevir-ritonavir-ombitasvir plus dasabuvir in the 10 provinces and 3 territories. Data were extracted from April 2015 to June 2016. The primary outcomes extracted from health ministerial websites were: 1) minimum fibrosis stage required, 2) drug and alcohol use restrictions, 3) HIV coinfection restrictions and 4) prescriber type restrictions. Results Overall, 85%-92% of provinces/territories limited access to patients with moderate fibrosis (Meta-Analysis of Histologic Data in Viral Hepatitis stage F2 or greater, or equivalent). There were no drug and alcohol use restrictions; however, several criteria (e.g., active injection drug use) were left to the discretion of the physician. Quebec did not reimburse simeprevir and sofosbuvir for people coinfected with HIV; no restrictions were found in the remaining jurisdictions. Prescriber type was restricted to specialists in up to 42% of provinces/territories. Interpretation This review of criteria of reimbursement of HCV direct-acting antivirals in Canada showed substantial interjurisdictional heterogeneity. The findings could inform health policy and support the development and adoption of a national HCV strategy.
BACKGROUND:Patients with HIV exposed to the antiretroviral drug abacavir may have an increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). There is concern that this association arises because of a ...channeling bias. Even if exposure is a risk, it is not clear how that risk changes as exposure cumulates.
METHODS:We assess the effect of exposure to abacavir on the risk of CVD events in the Swiss HIV Cohort Study. We use a new marginal structural Cox model to estimate the effect of abacavir as a flexible function of past exposures while accounting for risk factors that potentially lie on a causal pathway between exposure to abacavir and CVD.
RESULTS:A total of 11,856 patients were followed for a median of 6.6 years; 365 patients had a CVD event (4.6 events per 1000 patient-years). In a conventional Cox model, recent—but not cumulative—exposure to abacavir increased the risk of a CVD event. In the new marginal structural Cox model, continued exposure to abacavir during the past 4 years increased the risk of a CVD event (hazard ratio = 2.06; 95% confidence interval1.43 to 2.98). The estimated function for the effect of past exposures suggests that exposure during the past 6–36 months caused the greatest increase in risk.
CONCLUSIONS:Abacavir increases the risk of a CVD eventthe effect of exposure is not immediate, rather the risk increases as exposure cumulates over the past few years. This gradual increase in risk is not consistent with a rapidly acting mechanism, such as acute inflammation.
Abstract Background Ethnic différences have the potential to confound associations between HIV-1 subtype and immunologie progression. We compared declines in CD4 cell counts during untreated ...infection for the most prevalent HIV-1 subtypes, focusing on distinguishing between the effects of viral subtype and ethnicity. Methods We combined data from 4 European and 6 Canadian cohorts, selecting adults in the stable chronic phase of untreated HIV infection. We estimated the change in square root CD4 cell count over time for subtypes and ethnicities using mixed models, adjusting for covariates selected for their potential effect on initial CD4 cell count or its decline. Results Data from 9772 patients were analyzed, contributing 79 175 measurements of CD4 cell count and 24 157 person-years of follow-up. Overall, there were no appreciable differences in CD4 cell count decline for viral subtypes A, CRF01_AE, CRF02_AG, C and G compared with viral subtype B; whereas the decline in CD4 cell count in patients of African ancestry was considerably slower than in patients of other ethnicity. When ethnic groups were studied separately, there was evidence for slower declines in CD4 cell count in viral subtypes C, and possibly A and G, compared with viral subtype B in patients of African ancestry but not among patients of other ethnicities, suggesting an interaction between subtype and ethnicity. Interpretation Ethnicity is a major determinant of CD4 cell count decline; viral subtype differences may have existed but were small compared with the effect of ethnicity and were most apparent in patients of African ancestry. In developing countries, slower CD4 cell count declines among individuals of African descent may translate to a longer asymptomatic phase and increase the opportunity for HIV transmission.
Objective:
To evaluate the trends in abacavir (ABC) prescription among antiretroviral (ARV) medication-naive individuals following the presentation of the Data Collection on Adverse Events of ...Anti-HIV Drugs (DAD) cohort study.
Methods:
We conducted a retrospective cohort study of ARV medication-naive individuals in the Canadian Observational Cohort (CANOC).
Results:
Between January 1, 2000, and February 28, 2010, a total of 7280 ARV medication-naive patients were included in CANOC. We observed a significant change in the proportion of new ABC prescriptions immediately following the release of DAD (−11%; 95% confidence interval CI: −20% to −2.4%) and in the months following the presentation of these data (−0.66% per month; 95% CI: −1.2% to −0.073%). A post-DAD presentation decrease in the odds of being prescribed ABC versus tenofovir (TDF) was observed (adjusted odds ratio, 0.72 per year, 95% CI: 0.54-0.97).
Conclusions:
Presentation of the DAD was associated with a significant decrease in ABC use among ARV medication-naive, HIV-positive patients initiating therapy.
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