Excluding pregnancy among women initiating antiretroviral therapy: efficacy of a family planning job aid

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Guidelines for initiating ART recommend pregnancy testing, typically a urine test, as part of the basic laboratory package. The principal reason for this recommendation is that Efavirenz, a first-line antiretroviral medication, has the potential of causing birth defects when used in the first trimester of pregnancy and is therefore contraindicated for use by pregnant women. Unfortunately, in many African countries pregnancy tests are not routinely provided or available in ART clinics, and, when available outside clinics, are often not affordable for clients.</p> <p>Recently, the World Health Organization added a family planning job aid called the 'pregnancy checklist,' developed by researchers at Family Health International, as a recommended tool for screening new ART clients to exclude pregnancy. Although the checklist has been validated for excluding pregnancy among family planning clients, there are no data on its efficacy among ART clients.</p> <p>This study was conducted to assess the clinical performance of a job aid to exclude pregnancy among HIV positive women initiating ART.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Non-menstruating women eligible for ART were enrolled from 20 sites in four provinces in Zambia. The pregnancy checklist was administered followed by a urine pregnancy test as a reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were estimated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 200 women for whom the checklist ruled out pregnancy, 198 were not pregnant, for an estimated negative predictive value of 99%. The sensitivity of the checklist was 90.0%, and specificity was 38.7%. Among the women, 416 out of 534 (77.9%) did not abstain from sex since their last menses. Only 72 out of the 534 women (13.4%) reported using reliable contraception. Among the 416 women who did not abstain, 376 (90.4%) did not use reliable contraception.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The pregnancy checklist is effective for excluding pregnancy in many women initiating ART, but its moderate sensitivity and specificity precludes its use to completely replace pregnancy testing. Its use should be encouraged in low resource settings where pregnancy tests are unavailable or must be rationed. Family planning methods should be available and integrated into ART clinics.</p

Complication of intraprosthetic dislocation of dual-mobility hip implant following closed reduction.

Total hip replacement is a successful operation for the management of hip pain but there are potential complications, of which dislocation is one of the most common. The management of recurrent dislocation is a challenging problem that requires a multimodal approach and the use of dual-mobility implants is one option. We present a patient who was previously revised with a dual-mobility implant for recurrent dislocation, who had a complication after closed reduction of a subsequent intraprosthetic dislocation. Following a missed radiographical diagnosis, the patient experienced mechanical symptoms on hip flexion caused by a disassociated dual-mobility implant. Subsequent surgical removal of the failed implant and revision was required. Careful study of radiographs revealed an eccentric femoral head and evidence of the disassociated implant within the surrounding soft tissues. Radiographs following closed reduction of intraprosthetic dislocations should be scrutinised closely to detect implant failure to prevent further complications

Mother and child characteristics.

<p>Mother and child characteristics.</p

Rate of positive PCR by “who received ARV drugs”, mothers' ARV regimen, mothers' age at the time of delivery, HIV status disclosure, and by children's age group.

<p>Rate of positive PCR by “who received ARV drugs”, mothers' ARV regimen, mothers' age at the time of delivery, HIV status disclosure, and by children's age group.</p

Rate of positive PCR by time period of DBS collection and by children's age group.

<p>Rate of positive PCR by time period of DBS collection and by children's age group.</p

Rate of positive PCR by feeding mode, place and type of delivery, and by children's age group.

*<p>This means the child was still breastfeeding at the time of dried blood spot (DBS) collection for PCR.</p>**<p>This means the child was breastfed but stopped by the time of DBS collection. The timing when breastfeeding was stopped was not specified.</p

Estimated Adjusted Odds Ratio and 95% Confidence Intervals for ARV exposures and non ARV-related parameters.

<p>Estimated Adjusted Odds Ratio and 95% Confidence Intervals for ARV exposures and non ARV-related parameters.</p

Effects of hospital facilities on patient outcomes after cancer surgery: an international, prospective, observational study

© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licenseBackground: Early death after cancer surgery is higher in low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) compared with in high-income countries, yet the impact of facility characteristics on early postoperative outcomes is unknown. The aim of this study was to examine the association between hospital infrastructure, resource availability, and processes on early outcomes after cancer surgery worldwide. Methods: A multimethods analysis was performed as part of the GlobalSurg 3 study—a multicentre, international, prospective cohort study of patients who had surgery for breast, colorectal, or gastric cancer. The primary outcomes were 30-day mortality and 30-day major complication rates. Potentially beneficial hospital facilities were identified by variable selection to select those associated with 30-day mortality. Adjusted outcomes were determined using generalised estimating equations to account for patient characteristics and country-income group, with population stratification by hospital. Findings: Between April 1, 2018, and April 23, 2019, facility-level data were collected for 9685 patients across 238 hospitals in 66 countries (91 hospitals in 20 high-income countries; 57 hospitals in 19 upper-middle-income countries; and 90 hospitals in 27 low-income to lower-middle-income countries). The availability of five hospital facilities was inversely associated with mortality: ultrasound, CT scanner, critical care unit, opioid analgesia, and oncologist. After adjustment for case-mix and country income group, hospitals with three or fewer of these facilities (62 hospitals, 1294 patients) had higher mortality compared with those with four or five (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 3·85 [95% CI 2·58–5·75]; p<0·0001), with excess mortality predominantly explained by a limited capacity to rescue following the development of major complications (63·0% vs 82·7%; OR 0·35 [0·23–0·53]; p<0·0001). Across LMICs, improvements in hospital facilities would prevent one to three deaths for every 100 patients undergoing surgery for cancer. Interpretation: Hospitals with higher levels of infrastructure and resources have better outcomes after cancer surgery, independent of country income. Without urgent strengthening of hospital infrastructure and resources, the reductions in cancer-associated mortality associated with improved access will not be realised. Funding: National Institute for Health and Care Research