Frequency and reasons for delayed treatment initiation after HIV diagnosis: cross-sectional study in Lahore, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Well-timed initiation of HIV therapy enhances life expectancy, decreases mortality and morbidity, and inhibits the transmission of HIV and complications related to it. The purpose of the present survey is to investigate the frequency and reasons for delayed initiation of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and to determine its relationship with various socio-demographic variables and HIV-related characteristics. METHODS: The analysis is based on a cross-sectional study involving 355 people living with HIV (diagnosed by PCR) who were more than 18 years of age and not receiving HIV therapy before enrolment at the HIV clinics of two selected tertiary-care teaching hospitals in Lahore, Pakistan. In this study, delayed initiation of ART was defined as not attending the HIV management centre or a clinic for ART within 3 months of a confirmed diagnosis. The participants were selected using a systematic probability sampling technique. Bivariate logistic regression was performed using a backward stepwise technique to establish the variables related to delayed onset of HIV therapy. Factors significant at p ≤ 0.20 were considered for multivariate analysis, which was used to describe the association between independent factors and delayed initiation of treatment. RESULTS: Delayed onset of ART was observed in 28.5% of individuals. Factors such as no schooling (AOR = 5.92; 95% CI: 1.38-25.41; p = 0.017) and occasional household income (AOR = 3.88; 95% CI: 1.01-14.89; p = 0.048) were significantly associated with late onset of ART. Our research findings also indicated that the main reasons for late beginning of HIV therapy were: feeling healthy (45.5%), did not have time to go to the HIV treatment centre (42.6%), did not want to discuss HIV test result (37.6%), and fear of stigma and discrimination within their community (35.6%). CONCLUSIONS: Late commencement of HIV therapy in Pakistan is common, and an improved connection is needed between identification of HIV and beginning of therapy. HIV management centres should counsel and monitor patients from the time of a positive HIV test result until they initiate therapy.

The Impact of Vaccination Status on Anthropometric Indices of Growth Among Children: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Background Childhood immunization programs in underdeveloped nations can improve children's growth and nutritional status and prevent growth delays while protecting against infectious diseases and meeting growth norms. This study aimed to assess the impact of vaccination status on the anthropometric indices of children aged 12-18 months at an Expanded Programme on Immunization vaccination center and compare the anthropometric indices of growth in children with complete and incomplete vaccination statuses. Methodology This study was conducted at the rural health center in Kala Shah Kaku, Pakistan, from November 2023 to December 2023. Children aged 12-18 months were enrolled and their vaccination status was recorded. Height and weight were measured using World Health Organization growth charts. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and chi-square and Fisher's exact tests. A p-value <0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results The mean age of the 110 children who visited the vaccination site for this study was 16.36 months ± 2.415. There were 28 (25.5%) stunted children. In the study, 17.6 (16%) participants were underweight, and 15.95 (14.5%) were wasted. Of the children, 79% had received all recommended vaccinations. A statistically significant (p < 0.05) association was found between vaccination and nutritional status. Conclusions This study emphasizes the significance of vaccination in promoting child health and nutrition, reducing stunting risk, and ensuring equitable access to vaccination services and comprehensive healthcare interventions. This can help mitigate the malnutrition burden and promote optimal growth, contributing to global health and development goals.

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Issues Among HIV/AIDS Patients.

Psychiatric morbidity commonly coexists with substance abuse and HIV/AIDS around the globe. This review study aimed to determine the available literature on the prevalence of common substance abuse/use and common mental health illnesses among HIV/AIDS patients worldwide to help policymakers design appropriate strategies to limit extensive substance use and prevent common mental and health illnesses. For the comprehensive literature review, Google Scholar, PubMed Central, Medline, and PakMediNet biomedical databases were searched for original and reviewed studies published in English, from January 2000 to September 2021. Selections of studies and extraction of data from the studies were performed based on quality and inclusion criteria. MedCalc Meta-analysis Software Package version 20.009 was used for data analysis. Out of 103,024 HIV/AIDS patients inspected in 30 studies, 6430 HIV/AIDS patients had pooled prevalence of depression 30.31% (95%CI: 26.028 to 34.786), and 6927 study participants reported the overall current pooled prevalence of any substance use was 25.13% (95%CI: 11.526 to 41.897), respectively. Current alcohol consumption and tobacco smoking are the most common substance abuse, and depression and anxiety are the most common mental health disorders among HIV/AIDS patients. There was no significant publication bias, but substantial heterogeneity was observed in the presented studies. The current systematic review and meta-analysis showed a greater prevalence of substance abuse and mental health illnesses among HIV/AIDS patients than the general population at the global level. Key Words: Substances, Substance use, Substance abuse, Alcohol abuse, Tobacco smoking, HIV/AIDS, Depression, Anxiety, Mental health, HIV/AIDS, Worldwide.

Prevalence, Clinical Characteristics, and Clinical Outcomes of New-onset Diabetes Mellitus among COVID-19 Patients in Developing and Developed Countries: A Systematic Review.

Diabetes mellitus (DM) is linked to poor clinical outcomes and high mortality in Coronavirus patients. The primary objective of this systematic review was to determine the prevalence, clinical features, glycemic parameters, and outcomes of newly diagnosed diabetes in individuals with COVID-19 in developing and developed countries. By searching PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Embase, Google Scholar, and PakMediNet databases, an online literature search was conducted from March 2020 to November 2021. Guidelines for reporting systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) were used. There were 660 publications found, of which 27 were original studies involving 3241 COVID-19 patients were selected. In the COVID-19 patients with new-onset diabetes, mean age was 43.21±21.00 years. Fever, cough, polyuria, and polydipsia were the most frequently reported symptoms, followed by shortness of breath, arthralgia, and myalgia. The developed world reported (109/1119) new diabetes cases (9.74%), while the developing world reported (415/2122) (19.5%). COVID-19 new-onset diabetic mortality rate was 470/3241 (14.5%). Key Words: COVID-19, New onset diabetes mellitus, SARS-CoV-2, Prevalence, Clinical outcomes, Developing countries, Developed countries.

Comparison of renal growth in breast fed and artificial fed infants: a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: Renal growth in infancy determines renal function in adulthood and can easily be assessed via infant renal volume. Renal growth is influenced by many endogenous and exogenous factors among which nutrition is of prime importance. Worldwide, infants get their nutrition either from breast milk or formula, both of which have controversial roles in kidney growth and development. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was done on healthy infants in the Pediatric Nephrology Department of Mayo Hospital, Lahore. These infants were either breastfed or artificially fed and their kidney volumes were noted to determine any significant difference in kidney size. Both informed and written consent was taken before data collection and the data was analyzed using SPSS version 26. RESULTS: Out of 80 infants included in our study, 55% were male and 45% were female. The mean age was 8.9 months and the mean weight was 7.6 kg. The mean total kidney volume was 45.38 cm3 and the mean relative kidney volume was 6.12 cm3/kg. No statistical difference in relative renal volume was found between breastfed and artificially fed infants. CONCLUSION: The present study aimed to compare the renal volume and thus renal growth in breastfed versus formula-fed infants. No statistical significance was found in relative renal volume between breastfed and artificially fed infants.

Validity of the patient health questionnaires (phq-2 and phq-9) for screening depression among human immunodeficiency virus patients in Lahore, Pakistan.

BACKGROUND: Many human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients suffer from depr-ession, but a little focus is given to detecting and treating depression in primary health care. Detection of depression can be improved by introducing short, reliable, and valid screening instruments. AIM: To determine the psychometric properties of the patient health questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) and patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) for depression screening and diagnosis, and the sensitivity and specificity of the PHQ-2 in HIV infected patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 158 HIV-infected patients aged 18 years and above in Lahore, Pakistan. PHQ-2 was implemented to screen depression. PHQ-9 was implemented to diagnose major depressive disorder as a reference standard. Reliability, Validity tests and receiver operating characteristic curve were computed. RESULTS: The Cronbach's alpha of PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 were 0.732 and 0.759, respectively. The study results showed that the score of 2 on PHQ-2 indicates the highest Youden's index of 0.924, with both sensitivity and specificity of 0.96, and the area under the curve for PHQ-2 was 0.98 (95%CI: 0.953-0.998). CONCLUSION: Good psychometric properties for the PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 indicated their significant potential as tools for depression screening and diagnosis in the HIV-infected population.

Household COVID-19 secondary attack rate and associated determinants in Pakistan; A retrospective cohort study.

BACKGROUND: COVID-19 household transmissibility remains unclear in Pakistan. To understand the dynamics of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus disease epidemiology, this study estimated Secondary Attack Rate (SAR) among household and close contacts of index cases in Pakistan using a statistical transmission model. METHODOLOGY: A retrospective cohort study was conducted using an inclusive contact tracing dataset from the provinces of Punjab and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa to estimate SAR. We considered the probability of an infected person transmitting the infection to close contacts regardless of residential addresses. This means that close contacts were identified irrespective of their relationship with the index case. We assessed demographic determinants of COVID-19 infectivity and transmissibility. For this purpose based on evolving evidence, and as CDC recommends fully vaccinated people get tested 5-7 days after close contact with a person with suspected or confirmed COVID-19. Therefore we followed the same procedure in the close contacts for secondary infection. FINDINGS: During the study period from 15th May 2020 to 15th Jan 2021, a total of 339 (33.9%) index cases were studied from 1000 cases initially notified. Among close contact groups (n = 739), households were identified with an assumed mean incubation period of 8.2+4.3 days and a maximum incubation period of 15 days. SAR estimated here is among the household contacts. 117 secondary cases from 739 household contacts, with SAR 11.1% (95% CI 9.0-13.6). All together (240) SAR achieved was 32.48% (95% CI; 29.12-37.87) for symptomatic and confirmed cases. The potential risk factors for SAR identified here included; old age group (>45 years of age), male (gender), household members >5, and residency in urban areas and for index cases high age group. Overall local reproductive number (R) based on the observed household contact frequencies for index/primary cases was 0.9 (95% CI 0.47-1.21) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and 1.3 (95% CI 0.73-1.56) in Punjab. CONCLUSIONS: SAR estimated here was high especially in the second phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Pakistan. The results highlight the need to adopt rigorous preventive measures to cut the chain of viral transmission and prevent another wave of COVID-19.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Depression among Patients with HIV/AIDS in Lahore, Pakistan: Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Depression is defined as a psychiatric disorder characterized by depressed mood, lack of concentration, diminished energy, disturbed sleep, and low self-esteem. Depression is more prevalent in HIV/AIDS patients than the general population. There is no published study available that reveals the present status of depression among HIV patients in Pakistan. As such, the present study was conducted to determine the prevalence and associated factors of depression among HIV/AIDS patients attending the HIV clinic of Jinnah Hospital, Lahore, Pakistan. METHODS: A hospital-based cross-sectional study was carried out from February to March 2019 in Lahore. Data were collected from 158 HIV/AIDS patients using a pretested, standardized, structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Nonprobability convenience sampling was used to recruit the study participants. Depression was evaluated using the Patient Health Questionnaire. SPSS version 23 was used to analyze the data. Binary logistic regression models were used to determine the various factors associated with depression. AORs with 95% CIs were used to assess the magnitude of associations between depression and associated factors. RESULTS: The mean age of the study participants was 35.03 years±9.123. Prevalence of depression among HIV/AIDS patients was 32.2%. Living in a rural area (AOR 5.60, 95% CI 2.20, 14.15), fear of stigma and discrimination (AOR 3.505, 95% CI 1.364, 9.008), having worked abroad (AOR 3.017, 95% CI 1.134, 8.031), and history of substance abuse (AOR 4.147, 95% CI 1.673, 10.28) were significantly associated with depression. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of depression among HIV/AIDS patients is very high in Pakistan. Therefore, it is suggested that guidelines formulated to screen and treat depression among HIV patients.

Molecular epidemiology and genotype distribution of hepatitis C in Pakistan; a multicenter cross-sectional study.

Pakistan has second highest burden of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients in the World. Little is known about the molecular epidemiology and risk factors for prevailing HCV genotypes in Pakistan. Considering this a multicenter cross-sectional study was conducted at 23different viral hepatitis control and prevention centers. A total of 175,897 patients were registered and screened for HCV, out of which 73,180 (41.6%) were found positive on Architect screening test. The screened positive patients were sequentially tested on RT-PCR; where 41,241 (56.35%) were detected positive. Molecular characterization results showed genotype 3 (73.9%) as the most prevalent type, followed by genotype 1 (9.7%), and genotype 4 (0.3%) was isolated for the first time in Pakistan. On regression analysis; risk factors associated with genotype 3 and 1 included; age group of 30-50 years, rural residence, exposure to >10 injections, barber shaving, circumcision by barbers, and low literacy rate. Phylogenetic analysis based on genotypes identified in this study and sequences isolated from Pakistan in last 10 years demonstrated that genotype 3 and 1 are endemic locally in Punjab province. The high prevalence rate of HCV is a threat for a generalized epidemic and genetic recombination with such variability of genotypes identified here is an alarming condition. More focused attention and resources should be spent in awareness of the population to prevent the spread of HCV among high risk population.