Prevalence of HIV among pregnant women in three HIV-affected districts in Sindh, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To conduct a community-based cross-sectional survey to determine the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among pregnant women in taluka Ratodero, Larkana, and two adjacent talukas: Sajawal, district Kambar Shahdadkot and Garhi Yasin, district Shikarpur. METHODS: The study was conducted among pregnant women in the three talukas of rural Sindh: Ratodero, Garhi Yasin, and Sajawal, from October 16, 2020 - December 23, 2020. A total of 1,157 pregnant women were interviewed at their homes and tested using the AlereTM HIV Combo rapid finger prick test. The study captured women's sociodemographic, economic, and health characteristics, including age, education, employment, number of children, home or hospital delivery, antenatal care use, antenatal trimester, history of blood transfusion, and HIV test result. Descriptive statistics were calculated: percentages for categorical variables and mean ± standard deviation (SD) for continuous variables. RESULTS: It was found that 0.35% (4/1,157) of women were HIV-positive, of which 3 were in Ratodero, Larkana, and 1 was in Garhi Yasin, Shikarpur. The average age of women was 28.7 ± 4.0 years. Most of the women (n=1067; 92.2%) did not attend a school, and 99.0% (n=1145) had never had a formal job. The average gestational age was 7.6 (±2.2) months. More than three-quarters of the women participating in the study (n=894; 77.3%) were not registered with a formal healthcare facility for antenatal care. CONCLUSIONS: Considering several HIV sub-epidemics in Larkana in the past decade, HIV infection among pregnant women has remained low in Larkana and adjacent districts.

Freestanding Dialysis Facility Quality Incentive Program Scores and Mortality Among Incident Dialysis Patients in the United States.

RATIONALE & OBJECTIVE: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services introduced the Quality Incentive Program (QIP) along with the bundled payment reform to improve the quality of dialysis care in the United States. The QIP has been criticized for using easily obtained laboratory indicators without patient-centered measures and for a lack of evidence for an association between QIP indicators and patient outcomes. This study examined the association between dialysis facility QIP performance scores and survival among patients after initiation of dialysis. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: Study participants included 84,493 patients represented in the US Renal Disease System's patient-level data who had initiated dialysis between January 1, 2013, and December 1, 2013, and who did not, during the first 90 days after dialysis initiation, die, receive a transplant, or become lost to follow-up. Patients were followed up for the study outcome through March 31, 2014. PREDICTOR: Dialysis facility QIP scores. OUTCOME: Mortality. ANALYTICAL APPROACH: Using a unique facility identifier, we linked Medicare freestanding dialysis facility data from 2015 with US Renal Disease System patient-level data. Kaplan-Meier product limit estimator was used to describe the survival of study participants. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to assess the multivariable association between facility performance scores and patient survival. RESULTS: Excluding patients who died during the first 90 days of dialysis, 11.8% of patients died during an average follow-up of 5 months. Facilities with QIP scores<45 (HR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.15-1.68) and 45 to<60 (HR, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.10-1.33) had higher patient mortality rates than facilities with scores≥90. LIMITATIONS: Because the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services have revised QIP criteria each year, the findings may not relate to years other than those studied. CONCLUSIONS: Dialysis facilities characterized by lower QIP scores were associated with higher rates of patient mortality. These findings need to be replicated to assess their consistency over time.

Association between Freestanding Dialysis Facility Size and Medicare Quality Incentive Program Performance Scores.

BACKGROUND: Medicare uses a quality incentive program (QIP) criteria to evaluate care in dialysis facilities and apply monetary penalties on underperforming facilities. Smaller dialysis facilities are likely to be rural and operate on lower profit margin; therefore, such facilities are likely to underperform and face Medicare penalties. The variation in QIP scores by facility size is not yet known. We investigated the association between freestanding dialysis facility size and QIP scores. METHODS: Our cross-sectional analysis compared QIP scores across levels of facility size for 5,193 freestanding dialysis facilities that received QIP scores in 2015. We used Medicare facility data including Dialysis Facility Compare, Performance Scores, Facility-Level Impact, and Area Health Resource and United States Renal Data System files for the payment year 2015. We measured the facility size using the number of dialysis stations per dialysis facility. QIP scores were used to determine the quality of care. A generalized linear model was estimated at an alpha level of 0.05. RESULTS: Facilities operating more than 10 dialysis stations scored higher than those operating fewer. Further, facilities in the South and Northeast, not offering peritoneal dialysis, affiliated with chains (except chain 3) and spending more hours per dialysis achieved higher QIP scores. Facilities reporting a higher proportion of Hispanic patients and of patients with access to pre-end-stage renal disease (ESRD) nephrologist care achieved higher QIP scores. Conversely, facilities with a higher Black patient population and higher patient travel distances scored lower. CONCLUSIONS: The current study provides important finding about the performance of the dialysis facilities with ≤10 dialysis stations. Quality improvement strategies are needed, especially for the dialysis facilities with ≤10 stations, to prevent penalties and eventual closure of such facilities due to financial insolvency. Failure to address these issues will increase further disparities in ESRD care.

Knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAP) regarding sexuality, sexual behaviors and contraceptives among college/university students in Karachi, Pakistan.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding sexuality, high risk sexual behaviors and methods of contraception, among college/university students of Karachi, Pakistan. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional observational study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Higher Education Commission-recognized government and private colleges/universities in Karachi from 2005-2006. METHODOLOGY: Two colleges/universities were randomly selected from each category i.e. government medical, government non-medical and private medical and non-medical colleges/universities. Three stage cluster sampling was employed to draw a representative sample of students. A self administered questionnaire was used to elicit information on knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding high risk sexual behaviors, methods of contraception and sources to obtain information about sexual issues. RESULTS: A total of 957 students were interviewed. They comprised 542 (56.6%) males and 415 (43.4%) females with mean age of 21 ± 1.8 years. Bivariate analysis showed that students enrolled in medical colleges/universities were less likely to watch adult films (O.R. 0.7, CI; 0.5-0.9) to acquire sex related knowledge and go out on dates (O.R. 0.6, CI; 0.4- 0.8). Similarly, medical students were less likely to consider contraception as being against Islamic teachings (O.R. 0.7, CI; 0.5-0.9). CONCLUSION: The curricula of non-medical studies at undergraduate level should include education regarding sexual health and contraception.

Father's support and literacy--factors associated with child mortality in Gambat, Sindh-Pakistan.

OBJECTIVES: To determine Under Five Mortality Rate (U5MR) in Gambat and to identify causes of and factors associated with it. METHODS: The study was conducted in taluka Gambat of Sindh, Pakistan from December 2002 to August 2003. The sample of at least 510 mothers was needed to capture expected 1020 live births. We interviewed mothers to elicit information about live births in the past five years, under-five mortality and its cause. Additionally, the mothers were also asked about their mobility and availability of husband's support in child's rearing, other than economic support. Approval was sought from Aga Khan University's Ethical Committee. Pre structured questionnaire was used. Data were double entered, validated and cleaned using Epi-Info 6 and analysed with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 11.5. RESULTS: We included 647 mothers, who reported 997 births in the past five years. The reported number of deaths was 169, with the estimated U5MR of 170/1000 live births/year. The five major causes of mortality were tetanus (17.8%), diarrhoea (11.8%), measles (6.5%), delivery related morbidities (6.5%) and Acute Respiratory Infections (4.5%). Fever was identified as a cause by 19.1% mothers. About 20% did not know the cause of death. The regression analysis showed father's literacy level (AOR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.8) and father's support in child rearing (AOR 5.6, 95% CI 3.6-8.6) as factors significantly associated with mortality. CONCLUSION: Increasing education among parents in rural areas like Gambat is important to reduce child mortality. Father's involvement in child rearing can play a role.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings in white matter disease of brain.

Demyelinating and dysmyelinating white matter diseases are important components of neurological problems. Recently, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) has played a key role in diagnoses of white matter diseases. Therefore, the purpose of the current study is to evaluate the usefulness of MRI in determining the type and frequency of white matter disease. We studied 35 patients who visited the Radiology Department of the Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) for MRI with suspected demyelinating/dysmyelinating disorder from January 2003 to December 2005. Multiple Sclerosis (MS) (17; 48%) and leukodystrophies (10; 29%) were the most common diseases. The MRI helped identify the sites and types of the lesion precisely and thereby helped made clearer. distinction between various types of white matter diseases. The current study demonstrated the effective use of the imaging and clinical presentation for arriving at the correct diagnosis.

Geographic disparities in mortality among the end stage renal disease patients: an analysis of the United States Renal Data System, 2007-08.

The study was conducted to determine the association between mortality, rurality, and distance from the treatment facility of the patients with ESRD. The United States Renal Data System (USRDS) for the year 2007-08 was utilized to conduct analysis of 181,349 subjects. After adjusting for all other covariates, the odds of mortality were higher among patients in urban and isolated areas (18.1 miles or more from the dialysis facility), compared with those who were living closer (≤3.3 miles, OR 1.08, 95 % CI 1.05-1.12). Conversely, patients living in isolated rural (0-≤3.3 miles, OR 0.95, 95 % CI 0.81-0.96), small adjacent rural (8.1-≤18.1 miles, OR 0.90, 95 % CI 0.77-0.96) and Micropolitan rural quartiles (>18.1 miles, OR 0.96, 95 % CI 0.92-0.97) had lower odds of mortality than their urban counterparts. The Accountable Care Organizations must devise strategies to cater ESRD patients living in remote areas.