Clinical Outcomes in Persons Coinfected With Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis C Virus: Impact of Hepatitis C Virus Treatment.

BACKGROUND A hepatitis C (HCV) cure is associated with changes in lipids and inflammatory biomarkers, but its impact on clinical endpoints among treated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV coinfected persons is unclear. METHODS People living with HIV from EuroSIDA with a known HCV status after January 2001 were classified into strata based on time-updated HCV RNA measurements and HCV treatment, as either HCV antibody-negative; spontaneously resolved HCV; chronic, untreated HCV; cured HCV (HCV RNA-negative); or HCV treatment failures (HCV RNA-positive). Poisson regression was used to compare incidence rates between HCV groups for end-stage liver disease (ESLD; including hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]), non-acquired immunodeficiency virus defining malignancy (NADM; excluding HCC), and cardiovascular disease (CVD). RESULTS There were 16 618 persons included (median follow-up 8.3 years, interquartile range 3.1-13.7). There were 887 CVD, 902 NADM, and 436 ESLD events; crude incidence rates/1000 person-years follow-up were 6.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.0-6.9) for CVD, 6.5 (95% CI 6.1-6.9) for NADM, and 3.1 (95% CI 2.8-3.4) for ESLD. After adjustment, there were no differences in incidence rates of NADM or CVD across the 5 groups. HCV-negative individuals (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.34) and those with spontaneous clearance (aIRR 0.61, 95% CI 0.36-1.02) had reduced rates of ESLD compared to cured individuals. Persons with chronic, untreated HCV infections (aIRR 1.47, 95% CI 1.02-2.13) or treatment failure (aIRR 1.80, 95% CI 1.22-2.66) had significantly raised rates of ESLD, compared to those who were cured. CONCLUSIONS Incidences of NADM or CVD were independent of HCV group, whereas those cured had substantially lower incidences of ESLD, underlining the importance of successful HCV treatment for reducing ESLD

Estimating Trends in the Proportion of Transmitted and Acquired HIV Drug Resistance in a Long Term Observational Cohort in Germany

OBJECTIVE: We assessed trends in the proportion of transmitted (TDR) and acquired (ADR) HIV drug resistance and associated mutations between 2001 and 2011 in the German ClinSurv-HIV Drug Resistance Study. METHOD: The German ClinSurv-HIV Drug Resistance Study is a subset of the German ClinSurv-HIV Cohort. For the ClinSurv-HIV Drug Resistance Study all available sequences isolated from patients in five study centres of the long term observational ClinSurv-HIV Cohort were included. TDR was estimated using the first viral sequence of antiretroviral treatment (ART) naïve patients. One HIV sequence/patient/year of ART experienced patients was considered to estimate the proportion of ADR. Trends in the proportion of HIV drug resistance were calculated by logistic regression. RESULTS: 9,528 patients were included into the analysis. HIV-sequences of antiretroviral naïve and treatment experienced patients were available from 34% (3,267/9,528) of patients. The proportion of TDR over time was stable at 10.4% (95% CI 9.1-11.8; p for trend = 0.6; 2001-2011). The proportion of ADR among all treated patients was 16%, whereas it was high among those with available HIV genotypic resistance test (64%; 1,310/2,049 sequences; 95% CI 62-66) but declined significantly over time (OR 0.8; 95% CI 0.77-0.83; p for trend<0.001; 2001-2011). Viral load monitoring subsequent to resistance testing was performed in the majority of treated patients (96%) and most of them (67%) were treated successfully. CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of TDR was stable in this study population. ADR declined significantly over time. This decline might have been influenced by broader resistance testing, resistance test guided therapy and the availability of more therapeutic options and not by a decline in the proportion of TDR within the study population

Clinical Outcomes in Persons Coinfected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus and Hepatitis C Virus: Impact of Hepatitis C Virus Treatment

Background: A hepatitis C (HCV) cure is associated with changes in lipids and inflammatory biomarkers, but its impact on clinical endpoints among treated human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/HCV coinfected persons is unclear. Methods: People living with HIV from EuroSIDA with a known HCV status after January 2001 were classified into strata based on time-updated HCV RNA measurements and HCV treatment, as either HCV antibody-negative; spontaneously resolved HCV; chronic, untreated HCV; cured HCV (HCV RNA-negative); or HCV treatment failures (HCV RNA-positive). Poisson regression was used to compare incidence rates between HCV groups for end-stage liver disease (ESLD; including hepatocellular carcinoma [HCC]), non-acquired immunodeficiency virus defining malignancy (NADM; excluding HCC), and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Results: There were 16 618 persons included (median follow-up 8.3 years, interquartile range 3.1-13.7). There were 887 CVD, 902 NADM, and 436 ESLD events; crude incidence rates/1000 person-years follow-up were 6.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] 6.0-6.9) for CVD, 6.5 (95% CI 6.1-6.9) for NADM, and 3.1 (95% CI 2.8-3.4) for ESLD. After adjustment, there were no differences in incidence rates of NADM or CVD across the 5 groups. HCV-negative individuals (adjusted incidence rate ratio [aIRR] 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.34) and those with spontaneous clearance (aIRR 0.61, 95% CI 0.36-1.02) had reduced rates of ESLD compared to cured individuals. Persons with chronic, untreated HCV infections (aIRR 1.47, 95% CI 1.02-2.13) or treatment failure (aIRR 1.80, 95% CI 1.22-2.66) had significantly raised rates of ESLD, compared to those who were cured. Conclusions: Incidences of NADM or CVD were independent of HCV group, whereas those cured had substantially lower incidences of ESLD, underlining he importance of successful HCV treatment for reducing ESLD

Using clinical research networks to assess severity of an emerging influenza pandemic

BACKGROUND: Early clinical severity assessments during the 2009 influenza A H1N1 pandemic (pH1N1) overestimated clinical severity due to selection bias and other factors. We retrospectively investigated how to use data from the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials, a global clinical influenza research network, to make more accurate case fatality ratio (CFR) estimates early in a future pandemic, an essential part of pandemic response. METHODS: We estimated the CFR of medically attended influenza (CFRMA) as the product of probability of hospitalization given confirmed outpatient influenza and the probability of death given hospitalization with confirmed influenza for the pandemic (2009-2011) and post-pandemic (2012-2015) periods. We used literature survey results on health-seeking behavior to convert that estimate to CFR among all infected persons (CFRAR). RESULTS: During the pandemic period, 5.0% (3.1%-6.9%) of 561 pH1N1-positive outpatients were hospitalized. Of 282 pH1N1-positive inpatients, 8.5% (5.7%-12.6%) died. CFRMA for pH1N1 was 0.4% (0.2%-0.6%) in the pandemic period 2009-2011 but declined 5-fold in young adults during the post-pandemic period compared to the level of seasonal influenza in the post-pandemic period 2012-2015. CFR for influenza-negative patients did not change over time. We estimated the 2009 pandemic CFRAR to be 0.025%, 16-fold lower than CFRMA. CONCLUSIONS: Data from a clinical research network yielded accurate pandemic severity estimates, including increased severity among younger people. Going forward, clinical research networks with a global presence and standardized protocols would substantially aid rapid assessment of clinical severity

Maraviroc for previously treated patients with R5 HIV-1 infection

Background CC chemokine receptor 5 antagonists are a new class of antiretroviral agents.Methods We conducted two double- blind, placebo- controlled, phase 3 studies - Maraviroc versus Optimized Therapy in Viremic Antiretroviral Treatment- Experienced Patients ( MOTIVATE) 1 and MOTIVATE 2 - with patients who had R5 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 ( HIV- 1) only. They had been treated with or had resistance to three antiretroviral- drug classes and had HIV- 1 RNA levels of more than 5000 copies per milliliter. The patients were randomly assigned to one of three antiretroviral regimens consisting of maraviroc once daily, maraviroc twice daily, or placebo, each of which included optimized background therapy ( OBT) based on treatment history and drug- resistance testing. Safety and efficacy were assessed after 48 weeks.Results A total of 1049 patients received the randomly assigned study drug; the mean baseline HIV- 1 RNA level was 72,400 copies per milliliter, and the median CD4 cell count was 169 per cubic millimeter. At 48 weeks, in both studies, the mean change in HIV- 1 RNA from baseline was greater with maraviroc than with placebo: - 1.66 and - 1.82 log(10) copies per milliliter with the once- daily and twice- daily regimens, respectively, versus - 0.80 with placebo in MOTIVATE 1, and - 1.72 and - 1.87 log(10) copies per milliliter, respectively, versus - 0.76 with placebo in MOTIVATE 2. More patients receiving maraviroc once or twice daily had HIV- 1 RNA levels of less than 50 copies per milliliter ( 42% and 47%, respectively, vs. 16% in the placebo group in MOTIVATE 1; 45% in both maraviroc groups vs. 18% in MOTIVATE 2; P&lt; 0.001 for both comparisons in each study). The change from baseline in CD4 counts was also greater with maraviroc once or twice daily than with placebo ( increases of 113 and 122 per cubic millimeter, respectively, vs. 54 in MOTIVATE 1; increases of 122 and 128 per cubic millimeter, respectively, vs. 69 in MOTIVATE 2; P&lt; 0.001 for both comparisons in each study). Frequencies of adverse events were similar among the groups.Conclusions Maraviroc, as compared with placebo, resulted in significantly greater suppression of HIV- 1 and greater increases in CD4 cell counts at 48 weeks in previously treated patients with R5 HIV- 1 who were receiving OBT. (ClinicalTrials. gov numbers, NCT00098306 and NCT00098722.)

The surgical safety checklist and patient outcomes after surgery: a prospective observational cohort study, systematic review and meta-analysis

© 2017 British Journal of Anaesthesia Background: The surgical safety checklist is widely used to improve the quality of perioperative care. However, clinicians continue to debate the clinical effectiveness of this tool. Methods: Prospective analysis of data from the International Surgical Outcomes Study (ISOS), an international observational study of elective in-patient surgery, accompanied by a systematic review and meta-analysis of published literature. The exposure was surgical safety checklist use. The primary outcome was in-hospital mortality and the secondary outcome was postoperative complications. In the ISOS cohort, a multivariable multi-level generalized linear model was used to test associations. To further contextualise these findings, we included the results from the ISOS cohort in a meta-analysis. Results are reported as odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals. Results: We included 44 814 patients from 497 hospitals in 27 countries in the ISOS analysis. There were 40 245 (89.8%) patients exposed to the checklist, whilst 7508 (16.8%) sustained ≥1 postoperative complications and 207 (0.5%) died before hospital discharge. Checklist exposure was associated with reduced mortality [odds ratio (OR) 0.49 (0.32–0.77); P\u3c0.01], but no difference in complication rates [OR 1.02 (0.88–1.19); P=0.75]. In a systematic review, we screened 3732 records and identified 11 eligible studies of 453 292 patients including the ISOS cohort. Checklist exposure was associated with both reduced postoperative mortality [OR 0.75 (0.62–0.92); P\u3c0.01; I2=87%] and reduced complication rates [OR 0.73 (0.61–0.88); P\u3c0.01; I2=89%). Conclusions: Patients exposed to a surgical safety checklist experience better postoperative outcomes, but this could simply reflect wider quality of care in hospitals where checklist use is routine