A systematic review evaluating the impact of task shifting on access to antiretroviral therapy in sub-Saharan Africa

Background: Task shifting, defined for this review as the shifting of ART initiation and management from physicians to nurses, has been proposed as a possible method to increase access to HIV treatment in Sub-Saharan Africa.Objective: To critically evaluate the literature on task shifting, determining if there is evidence to support this view.Methods: A systematic search of the literature was undertaken, with both peer reviewed publications and conference abstracts presenting original data eligible for inclusion. Studies were evaluated according to methodology and discussion of confounding factors.Results: We identified 25 articles which evaluated the effect of task shifting on access to ART. The evidence was mixed. Although there is a significant body of field reports indicating that task shifting increases access, these studies were of low methodological quality. The only randomized controlled trial included in this review did not find that task shifting increased in access.Conclusion: Task shifting appears to be most effective at increasing access when combined with other interventions and financial support. There is a need for more research into the effects of task shifting policies, especially randomized controlled trials and high quality cohort studies.Key words: task shifting, antiretroviral therapy, nurse provided treatment, substitution of physicians, access to HIV treatmen

Income disparities in absolute cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular risk factors in the United States, 1999-2014

Importance: Large improvements in the control of risk factors for cardiovascular disease have been achieved in the United States, but it remains unclear whether adults in all socioeconomic strata have benefited equally.Objective: To assess temporal trends in 10-year predicted absolute cardiovascular risk and cardiovascular risk factors among US adults in different socioeconomic strata.Design, Setting, and Participants: A cross-sectional analysis was conducted using data on adults 40 to 79 years of age without established cardiovascular disease from the 1999 to 2014 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.Exposures: Socioeconomic status was based on the family income to poverty ratio and participants were divided into the following 3 groups: high income (family income to poverty ratio, ≥4), middle income (>1 and Main Outcomes and Measures: We assessed predicted absolute cardiovascular risk using the pooled cohort equation. We assessed the following 4 risk factors: systolic blood pressure, smoking status, diabetes, and total cholesterol.Results: Of the 17 199 adults whose data were included in the study (8828 women and 8371 men; mean age, 54.4 years), from 1999-2014, trends in the percentage of adults with predicted absolute cardiovascular risk of 20% or more, mean systolic blood pressure, and the percentage of current smokers varied by income strata (P ≤ .02 for interaction). For adults with incomes at or below the federal poverty level, there was little evidence of a change in any of these outcomes across survey years (cardiovascular risk ≥20%, 14.9% [95% CI, 12.9%-16.8%] in 1999-2004; 16.5% [95% CI, 13.7%-19.2%] in 2011-2014; P = .41; mean systolic blood pressure, 127.6 [95% CI, 126.1-129.0] mm Hg in 1999-2004; 126.8 [95% CI, 125.2-128.5] mm Hg in 2011-2014; P = .44; and smoking, 36.5% [95% CI, 32.1%-41.0%] in 1999-2004; 36.0% [95% CI, 31.1%-40.8%] in 2011-2014; P = .87). For adults in the high-income stratum, these variables decreased across survey years (cardiovascular risk ≥20%, 12.0% [95% CI, 10.7%-13.3%] in 1999-2004; 9.5% [95% CI, 8.2%-10.7%] in 2011-2014; P = .003; systolic blood pressure, 126.0 [95% CI, 125.0-126.9] mm Hg in 1999-2004; 122.3 [95% CI, 121.3-123.3] mm Hg in 2011-2014; P Conclusions and Relevance: Adults in each socioeconomic stratum have not benefited equally from efforts to control cardiovascular risk factors

The calculation of the cardiac troponin T 99th percentile of the reference population is affected by age, gender, and population selection: A multicenter study in Italy.

Background: The aim of this study is to determine the 99th upper-reference limit (URL) for cardiac troponin T (cTnT) in Italian apparently healthy subjects. Methods: The reference population was selected from 5 cities: Bolzano (n = 290), Milano (CAMELIA-Study, n = 287), Montignoso (MEHLP-Study, n = 306), Pisa (n = 182), and Reggio Calabria (MAREA-Study, n = 535). Subjects having cardiac/systemic acute/chronic diseases were excluded. Participants to MEHLP project underwent cardiac imaging investigation. High-sensitive cTnT was measured with Cobas-e411 (Roche Diagnostics). Results: We enrolled 1600 healthy subjects [54.6%males; age range 10–90 years; mean (SD): 36.4 (21.2) years], including 34.6% aged b20 years, 54.5% between 20 and 64 years, and 10.9% over 65 years. In the youngest the 99th URL was 10.9 ng/L in males and 6.8 ng/L in females; in adults 23.2 ng/L and 10.2 ng/L; and in elderly 36.8 ng/L and 28.6 ng/L. After the exclusion of outliers the 99th URL values were significantly decreased (P b 0.05) in particular those of the oldest (13.8 ng/L and 14 ng/L). MEHLP participants were divided in healthy and asymptomatic, according to known cardiovascular risk factors (HDL, LDL, glucose, C-reactive protein): the 99th URL of cTnT values of these subgroups was significantly different (19.5 vs. 22.7, P b 0.05). Conclusions: 99th URL of cTnT valueswas strongly affected by age, gender, selection of subjects and the statistical evaluation of outliers

Cinaciguat prevents the development of pathologic hypertrophy in a rat model of left ventricular pressure overload

Pathologic myocardial hypertrophy develops when the heart is chronically pressure-overloaded. Elevated intracellular cGMP-levels have been reported to prevent the development of pathologic myocardial hypertrophy, therefore we investigated the effects of chronic activation of the cGMP producing enzyme, soluble guanylate cyclase by Cinaciguat in a rat model of pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy. Abdominal aortic banding (AAB) was used to evoke pressure overload-induced cardiac hypertrophy in male Wistar rats. Sham operated animals served as controls. Experimental and control groups were treated with 10 mg/kg/day Cinaciguat (Cin) or placebo (Co) p.o. for six weeks, respectively. Pathologic myocardial hypertrophy was present in the AABCo group following 6 weeks of pressure overload of the heart, evidenced by increased relative heart weight, average cardiomyocyte diameter, collagen content and apoptosis. Cinaciguat did not significantly alter blood pressure, but effectively attenuated all features of pathologic myocardial hypertrophy, and normalized functional changes, such as the increase in contractility following AAB. Our results demonstrate that chronic enhancement of cGMP signalling by pharmacological activation of sGC might be a novel therapeutic approach in the prevention of pathologic myocardial hypertrophy

20-Year Risks of Breast-Cancer Recurrence after Stopping Endocrine Therapy at 5 Years

The administration of endocrine therapy for 5 years substantially reduces recurrence rates during and after treatment in women with early-stage, estrogen-receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer. Extending such therapy beyond 5 years offers further protection but has additional side effects. Obtaining data on the absolute risk of subsequent distant recurrence if therapy stops at 5 years could help determine whether to extend treatment

Randomised trials in context: practical problems and social aspects of evidence-based medicine and policy

Randomised trials can provide excellent evidence of treatment benefit in medicine. Over the last 50 years, they have been cemented in the regulatory requirements for the approval of new treatments. Randomised trials make up a large and seemingly high-quality proportion of the medical evidence-base. However, it has also been acknowledged that a distorted evidence-base places a severe limitation on the practice of evidence-based medicine (EBM). We describe four important ways in which the evidence from randomised trials is limited or partial: the problem of applying results, the problem of bias in the conduct of randomised trials, the problem of conducting the wrong trials and the problem of conducting the right trials the wrong way. These problems are not intrinsic to the method of randomised trials or the EBM philosophy of evidence; nevertheless, they are genuine problems that undermine the evidence that randomised trials provide for decision-making and therefore undermine EBM in practice. Finally, we discuss the social dimensions of these problems and how they highlight the indispensable role of judgement when generating and using evidence for medicine. This is the paradox of randomised trial evidence: the trials open up expert judgment to scrutiny, but this scrutiny in turn requires further expertise