Background
Despite the increasing interest in transgender health research, to date little is known about the size of the transgender and gender diverse (TGD) population.
Methods
A web-based ...questionnaire survey was developed, including a collection of socio-demographic characteristics and disseminated online through social media. Gender incongruence was evaluated by using a 2-item approach assessing gender recorded at birth and gender identity. The primary objective of the present population-based study was to estimate the proportion of TGD people across ages among a large sample of people who answered a web-based survey. The secondary endpoints were to identify gender-affirming needs and possible barriers to healthcare access.
Results
A total of 19,572 individuals participated in the survey, of whom 7.7% reported a gender identity different from the sex recorded at birth. A significantly higher proportion of TGD people was observed in the youngest group of participants compared with older ones. Among TGD people who participated in the study, 58.4% were nonbinary, and 49.1% experienced discrimination in accessing health care services. Nonbinary TGD participants reported both the need for legal name and gender change, along with hormonal and surgical interventions less frequently compared to binary persons.
Conclusions
Being TGD is not a marginal condition In Italy. A large proportion of TGD persons may not need medical and surgical treatments. TGD people often experience barriers to healthcare access relating to gender identity.
Recent screenings of inmates for Hepatitis C virus (HCV), Hepatitis B virus (HBV), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), Syphilis and Latent Tuberculosis (LTB) did not provide sufficient information to ...improve healthcare strategies.
To obtain valuable information on the endemicity of the above mentioned Infections in prisons of Italy.
A screening based on a peer-to-peer communication, followed by a month of blood sampling on a voluntary basis was performed to detect antibody to 4 of the 5 above mentioned infections and detect LTB by PPD (purified protein derivative) Skin Test. The present analysis regards data obtained in 9 of the 20 prisons.
The percentage of patients who accepted the screening varied between jails (37.3-95.2%, median 62.2), but it was higher than 10.0-20.5% obtained in the same 9 prisons using traditional methods before our intervention. The participation to the screening reached 65.3% for HBV, 64.6% for HCV, 67.4%for HIV, 55.7% for TPHA (Treponema Pallidum Hemagglutination Assay) and 42.8% for LTB. HBsAg was detected in 4.4% of 2265 subjects, anti-HCV in 22.8% of 2241, anti-HIV in 3.8% of 2339 and TPHA in 2.1% of 1932; PPD Skin Test was positive in 17.2% of 1486 subjects. The screening identified 183 subjects with an unknown infection, 56 italian and 127 foreigners to be evaluated for clinical decisions: 35 with HBV chronic infection, 34 with HCV chronic infection, 3 anti-HIV positive, 14 with syphilis and 97 with LTB.
The new approach to the screening, based on a peer-to-peer communication followed by blood sampling on a voluntary basis provided valuable information to improve the healthcare system in each single prison.
Mental health issues, frequently associated with weirdness and danger, can easily derail the lives of the people who suffer from them, creating loneliness and isolation. Due to stigma, people with ...mental health disorders could experience limitation in their economic, social and cultural human rights. In the effort to fight stigma against mental health issues, Fondazione The Bridge promoted a contest called “Ma sei fuori?”, targeted to students from secondary school. “Ma sei fuori?” could be translated as “Are you off your rocker?” or, more simply, as “Are you crazy?”; this phrase has been adopted by our juvenile slang to identify a person who's generally considered “not in line”. To those who answered our public call, we sent the contest regulation and factsheets on schizophrenia and stigma, matched with a brief bibliography/filmography. Students involved had to develop a slogan on stigma linked with music and images; 140 classes competed. The best catchphrase had been voted by a jury composed of influencers, clinicians, policy makers, writers, patient associations and other KOLs; besides the winning class, the jury issued three special mentions. All the results had been broadcasted live on Facebook during a public event. The winning class, as prize, got access to financial resources for didactic use and its slogan will be the core of a TV spot. The project had been backed by a communication campaign on TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, with the involvement of the most famous italian tiktokers; just on TikTok the campaign reached 4.8 billion views. The project final scope was to raise young people's awareness about mental health issues and stigma, by stimulating a cultural shift. Students underlined another important result: working together online after school during the pandemic helped them filled the gap caused by the lack of socialization. Projects of this kind, easily replicable in other contests, could help creating a common language on the impact of stigma.
Key messages
Social stigma still has a great impact on the lives of people with mental issues and disorders. Tackling bias and discrimination is the first step to raise awareness and build a stronger community.
As a community, we must promote a responsible behavior and a common language to tackle prejudice on mental health issues; starting from young people could be the key to boost a cultural shift.
Background. Chronic cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection has been associated with immunosenescence and immunoactivation in the general population. In human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-infected ...people, CMV coinfection, in addition to residual HIV replication and microbial translocation, has been proposed as a key factor in sustaining immune activation, even in individuals with a controlled HIV load. Methods. Patients from the ICONA Study with at least 1 CMV immunoglobulin G (IgG) test available without active CMV disease were included in the analysis. AIDS-defining event or AIDS-related death and severe non-AIDS-defining event or non-AIDS-related death were taken as clinical progression end points. Independent predictors of CMV were identified by multivariable logistic regression. Probabilities of reaching the end points were estimated by survival analyses. Results. A total of 6111 subjects were included, of whom 5119 (83.3%) were CMV IgG positive at baseline. Patients with CMV IgG positivity at baseline were more likely to develop a severe non-AIDS-defining event/non-AIDS-related death (adjusted hazard ratio HR, 1.53 95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.08-2.16. In particular, CMV seropositivity was an independent risk factor for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases (adjusted HR, 2.27 95% CI, .97-5.32). Conclusions. In our study population, CMV/HIV coinfection was associated with the risk of severe non-AIDS-defining events/non-AIDS-related death, especially with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, independently of other prognostic factors. This finding supports a potential independent role of CMV coinfection in vascular/degenerative organ disorders in HIV-infected subjects.
In patients with HIV, immune reconstitution after antiretroviral therapy (ART) is often incomplete. We assessed the probability of patients reaching a CD4/CD8 ratio of 1 or more after the start of ...ART and its association with the onset of non-AIDS-defining events and death.
We did an analysis of the ICONA cohort, which recruited treatment-naive patients with HIV in Italy. We included participants in the cohort who started ART, reached an undetectable viral load (≤80 copies per mL), and had a CD4/CD8 ratio of less than 0·8 at the time of an undetectable viral load. We defined ratio normalisation in patients as two consecutive values of 1 or more. We used Kaplan-Meier curves to estimate the cumulative probability of ratio normalisation. We then used Poisson regression models to identify factors independently associated with normalisation and with progression to non-AIDS-defining events or death.
We included 3236 participants, enrolled between Jan 22, 1997, and Feb 25, 2013. At the start of ART, median CD4/CD8 ratio in our population was 0·39 (IQR 0·26-0·55). 458 (14%) patients reached a CD4/CD8 ratio of 1 or more; the estimated probability of normalisation was 4·4% (95% CI 3·7-5·2) by 1 year from baseline, 11·5% (10·2-13·0) by 2 years, and 29·4% (26·7-32·4) by 5 years. Factors associated with normalisation were high pre-ART CD4 cell counts, a high CD4/CD8 ratio at baseline, and negative cytomegalovirus serological findings. The incidence rate of non-AIDS-defining events for patients with a CD4/CD8 ratio of less than 0·30 (4·2 per 100 patient-years, 95% CI 3·4-5·3) was double that for those with a ratio of 0·30-0·45 (2·3, 2·1-2·5) or more than 0·45 (2·2, 1·7-2·9). A ratio of less than 0·30 was independently associated with an increased risk of non-AIDS-defining events or death compared with one of more than 0·45.
Few patients had normalised CD4/CD8 ratios, even though they had viral suppression. Low ratios were associated with increased risk of serious events and deaths. The CD4/CD8 ratio could be used by clinicians to identity patients at risk of non-AIDS-related events.
AbbVie, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Gilead, Janssen, Merck Sharp & Dohme, ViiV Italy.
To evaluate the durability of three integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs) and two NRTIs in ART-naive individuals.
The study design was observational. Patients were HIV-positive, ART-naive ...subjects starting raltegravir, elvitegravir/cobicistat or dolutegravir with two NRTIs. The primary endpoint was time to treatment failure, i.e. occurrence of virological failure (first of two consecutive plasma HIV RNAs ≥200 copies/mL after 24 weeks) or INSTI discontinuation for any reason apart from simplification. Secondary endpoints were INSTI discontinuation due to toxicity/intolerance and CD4 count response. Survival analysis was done using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression.
Two thousand and sixteen patients were included: 310 (15.4%) started raltegravir-based regimens, 994 (49.3%) started dolutegravir-based regimens and 712 (35.3%) started elvitegravir/cobicistat-based regimens. Over a median of 11 months, 167 patients experienced treatment failure; the 1 year probability of treatment failure was 6.5% for raltegravir, 5.4% for dolutegravir and 6.7% for elvitegravir/cobicistat (P = 0.001). Sixty-eight patients (3.4%) discontinued INSTIs owing to toxicity/intolerance. By multivariable analysis, patients starting raltegravir had a 2.03-fold (95% CI = 1.2-3.2) higher risk and patients on elvitegravir/cobicistat a 1.88-fold (95% CI = 1.2-2.9) higher risk of treatment failure versus dolutegravir; there was no difference in risk of discontinuation due to toxicity/intolerance when comparing dolutegravir and raltegravir and marginal evidence for a difference when comparing elvitegravir/cobicistat and dolutegravir (adjusted relative hazard = 1.94 for elvitegravir/cobicistat versus dolutegravir, 95% CI = 1.00-3.76, P = 0.05).
In our real-life setting, INSTI-based regimens showed high potency and durability. Among regimens currently recommended in Europe, those including dolutegravir are associated with a lower risk of treatment failure.
Study aim was to estimate the rate and identify predictors of discontinuation of first combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) in recent years.
Patients who initiated first cART between January ...2008 and October 2014 were included. Discontinuation was defined as stop of at least 1 drug of the regimen, regardless of the reason. All causes of discontinuation were evaluated and 3 main endpoints were considered: toxicity, intolerance, and simplification. Predictors of discontinuation were examined separately for all 3 endpoints. Kaplan-Meier analysis was used for the outcome discontinuation of ≥ 1 drug regardless of the reason. Cox regression analysis was used to identify factors associated with treatment discontinuation because of the 3 reasons considered.
A total of 4052 patients were included. Main reason for stopping at least 1 drug were simplification (29%), intolerance (21%), toxicity (19%), other causes (18%), failure (8%), planned discontinuation (4%), and nonadherence (2%). In a multivariable Cox model, predictors of discontinuation for simplification were heterosexual transmission (P = 0.007), being immigrant (P = 0.017), higher nadir lymphocyte T CD4 cell (P = 0.011), and higher lymphocyte T CD8 cell count (P = 0.025); for discontinuation due to intolerance: the use of statins (P = 0.029), higher blood glucose levels (P = 0.050). About toxicity: higher blood glucose levels (P = 0.010) and the use of zidovudine/lamivudine as backbone (P = 0.044).
In the late cART era, the main reason for stopping the initial regimen is simplification. This scenario reflects the changes in recommendations aimed to enhance adherence and quality of life, and minimize drug toxicity.
Social determinants are known to be a driving force of health inequalities, even in high income countries. Aim of our study was to determine if these factors can limit antiretroviral therapy (ART) ...access, outcome and retention in care of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in Italy.
All ART naïve HIV+ patients (pts) of Italian nationality enrolled in the ICONA Cohort from 2002 to 2016 were included. The association of socio-demographic characteristics (age, sex, risk factor for HIV infection, educational level, occupational status and residency area) with time to: ART initiation (from the first positive anti-HIV test), ART regimen discontinuation, and first HIV-RNA < 50 cp/mL, were evaluated by Cox regression analysis, Kaplan Meier method and log-rank test.
A total of 8023 HIV+ pts (82% males, median age at first pos anti-HIV test 36 years, IQR: 29-44) were included: 6214 (77.5%) started ART during the study period. Women, people who inject drugs (PWID) and residents in Southern Italy presented the lowest levels of education and the highest rate of unemployment compared to other groups. Females, pts aged > 50 yrs., unemployed vs employed, and people with lower educational levels presented the lowest CD4 count at ART initiation compared to other groups. The overall median time to ART initiation was 0.6 years (yrs) (IQR 0.1-3.7), with a significant decrease over time 2002-2006 = 3.3 yrs. (0.2-9.4); 2007-2011 = 1.0 yrs. (0.1-3.9); 2012-2016 = 0.2 yrs. (0.1-2.1), p < 0.001. By multivariate analysis, females (p < 0.01) and PWID (p < 0.001), presented a longer time to ART initiation, while older people (p < 0.001), people with higher educational levels (p < 0.001), unemployed (p = 0.02) and students (p < 0.001) were more likely to initiate ART. Moreover, PWID, unemployed vs stable employed, and pts. with lower educational levels showed a lower 1-year probability of achieving HIV-RNA suppression, while females, older patients, men who have sex with men (MSM), unemployed had higher 1-year risk of first-line ART discontinuation.
Despite median time to ART start decreased from 2002 to 2016, socio-demographic factors still contribute to disparities in ART initiation, outcome and durability.
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