Glob Health Action

Adolescents living with HIV are sexually active and engaged in risky sexual behaviors. Knowledge on how and to what extent adolescents in HIV care are affected by pregnancy is needed so as to adopt better preventive services. We estimated 4-year pregnancy incidence and correlates among HIV-infected female adolescents in HIV care in urban Côte d'Ivoire. We conducted retrospective analysis of a pediatric prospective cohort of the International epidemiological Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) West Africa Collaboration. Female patients with confirmed HIV infection aged 10-19 years, having at least one clinical visit in 2009 to health facilities participating in the pediatric IeDEA West African cohort in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, were included. Data on incident pregnancies were obtained through medical records and interviews with health professionals. Pregnancy incidence rate was estimated per 100 person-years (PY). Poisson regression models were used to identify factors associated with the first pregnancy and provided incidence rate ratios (IRR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). In 2009, 266 female adolescents were included, with a median age of 12.8 years (interquartile range, IQR: 10.0-15.0), CD4 cell counts of 506 cells/mm(3) (IQR: 302-737), and 80% on antiretroviral treatment. At the 48th month, 17 new pregnancies were reported after 938 PY of follow-up: 13 girls had one pregnancy while 2 had two pregnancies. Overall incidence rate of pregnancy was 1.8/100 PY (95% CI: 1.1-2.9). High incidence was observed among those aged 15-19 years: 3.6/100 PY (95% CI: 2.2-5.9). Role of maternal death in the risk of pregnancy was at the limit of statistical significance (adjusted IRR: 3.1, 95% CI: 0.9-11.0; ref. non-maternal orphans). Incidence of pregnancy among HIV-infected adolescents in care aged 15-19 years reached a level observed in adult cohorts in Sub-Saharan Africa. Health personnel in pediatric care have to intensify their efforts to provide more realistic and age-adapted reproductive health services to meet the needs of adolescent patients already confronting issues of sexuality. Vulnerability of maternal orphans merits further investigation

24-Month Clinical, Immuno-Virological Outcomes, and HIV Status Disclosure in Adolescents Living With Perinatally-Acquired HIV in the IeDEA-COHADO Cohort in Togo and Côte d'Ivoire, 2015-2017

Background: Adolescents living with perinatally-acquired HIV (APHIV) face challenges including HIV serostatus disclosure. We assessed their 24-month outcomes in relation to the disclosure of their own HIV serostatus. Methods: Nested within the International epidemiologic Database to Evaluate AIDS pediatric West African prospective cohort (IeDEA pWADA), the COHADO cohort included antiretroviral (ART)-treated APHIV aged 10-19 years, enrolled in HIV care before the age of 10 years, in Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) and Lomé (Togo) in 2015. We measured the HIV serostatus disclosure at baseline and after 24 months and analyzed its association with a favorable combined 24-month outcome using logistic regression. The 24-month combined clinical immuno-virological outcome was defined as unfavorable when either death, loss to follow-up, progression to WHO-AIDS stage, a decrease of CD4 count >10% compared to baseline, or a detectable viral load (VL > 50 copies/mL) occurred at 24 months. Results: Overall, 209 APHIV were included (51.6% = Abidjan, 54.5% = females). At inclusion, the median CD4 cell count was 521/mm (3) [IQR (281-757)]; 29.6% had a VL measurement, of whom, 3.2% were virologically suppressed. APHIV were younger in Lomé {median age: 12 years [interquartile range (IQR): 11-15]} compared to Abidjan [14 years (IQR: 12-15, p = 0.01)]. Full HIV-disclosure increased from 41.6% at inclusion to 74.1% after 24 months. After 24 months of follow-up, six (2.9%) died, eight (3.8%) were lost to follow-up, and four (1.9%) were transferred out. Overall, 73.7% did not progress to the WHO-AIDS stage, and 62.7% had a CD4 count above (±10%) of the baseline value (48.6% in Abidjan vs. 69.0% in Lomé, p 2 years compared to those who had not been disclosed to [aOR = 0.21, 95% CI (0.05-0.84), p = 0.03]. Conclusions: The frequency of HIV-disclosure improved over time and differed across countries but remained low among West African APHIV. Overall, the 24-month outcomes were poor. Disclosure before the study was a marker of a poor 24-month outcome in Lomé. Context-specific responses are urgently needed to improve adolescent care and reach the UNAIDS 90% target of virological success

HIV Status Disclosure and Retention in Care in HIV-Infected Adolescents on Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) in West Africa

We assessed the effect of HIV status disclosure on retention in care from initiation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) among HIV-infected children aged 10 years or more in Cote d'Ivoire, Mali and Sénégal.Multi-centre cohort study within five paediatric clinics participating in the IeDEA West Africa collaboration. HIV-infected patients were included in this study if they met the following inclusion criteria: aged 10-21 years while on ART; having initiated ART ≥ 200 days before the closure date of the clinic database; followed ≥ 15 days from ART initiation in clinics with ≥ 10 adolescents enrolled. Routine follow-up data were merged with those collected through a standardized ad hoc questionnaire on awareness of HIV status. Probability of retention (no death or loss-to-follow-up) was estimated with Kaplan-Meier method. Cox proportional hazard model with date of ART initiation as origin and a delayed entry at date of 10th birthday was used to identify factors associated with death or loss-to-follow-up.650 adolescents were available for this analysis. Characteristics at ART initiation were: median age of 10.4 years; median CD4 count of 224 cells/mm³ (47% with severe immunosuppression), 48% CDC stage C/WHO stage 3/4. The median follow-up on ART after the age of 10 was 23.3 months; 187 adolescents (28.8%) knew their HIV status. The overall probability of retention at 36 months after ART initiation was 74.6% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 70.5-79.0) and was higher for those disclosed compared to those not: adjusted hazard ratio for the risk of being death or loss-to-follow-up = 0.23 (95% CI: 0.13-0.39).About 2/3 of HIV-infected adolescents on ART were not aware of their HIV status in these ART clinics in West Africa but disclosed HIV status improved retention in care. The disclosure process should be thus systematically encouraged and organized in adolescent populations

Probability of retention in HIV care while on antiretroviral therapy (ART) according to disclosed HIV status taking into account the delayed entry at age of 10 years (n = 650).

<p>Pediatric IeDEA West Africa Collaboration. * Estimation at 36 months from ART initiation.</p

Follow-up characteristics of adolescents on ART.

<p>Pediatric IeDEA West Africa (WADA) Collaboration.</p><p>ART: Antiretroviral therapy.</p><p>N: number; Med: median; IQR: Inter Quartile Range; Min: minimum; Max: maximum.</p

Characteristics of the process of HIV disclosure of adolescents.

<p>Pediatric IeDEA West Africa (WADA) Collaboration.</p><p>ART: Antiretroviral therapy.</p>*<p>Consisted in other persons of the family (uncle, aunt, grand-mother, grand-father, adoptive father or mother), persons from foster care shelters or NGOs (n = 14), nobody involved because of reading the notice (n = 4).</p

Characteristics of adolescents at HIV disclosure or last contact.

<p>Pediatric IeDEA West Africa (WADA) Collaboration.</p><p>N: number.</p

Crude and adjusted hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) of risk of death or loss-to-follow-up of adolescents after ART initiation (n = 650).

<p>Pediatric IeDEA West Africa Collaboration.</p><p>All analyses used the center as a cluster variable, taking into account the correlation of the observations within a same center.</p><p>HR: Hazard ratio.</p><p>aHR: adjusted hazard ratio.</p><p>MD: missing data.</p><p>ART: Antiretroviral therapy.</p><p>NNRTI: non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor.</p><p>Severe anemia: haemoglobin≤6.9 g/dL.</p><p>Severe immunosuppression : CD4<200 cells/mm³.</p

Cohort profile for the adolescent HIV disclosure study.

<p>Pediatric IeDEA West Africa (WADA) Collaboration.</p

Characteristics of adolescents at ART initiation.

<p>Pediatric IeDEA West Africa (WADA) Collaboration.</p><p>ART: Antiretroviral treatment; NNRTI: non nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor;</p><p>N: number; Med: median; IQR: Inter Quartile Range; Min: minimum; Max: maximum.</p