Laboratory Reflex and Clinic-Based Point-of-Care Cryptococcal Antigen Screening for Preventing Meningitis and Mortality Among People Living With HIV.

INTRODUCTION: Cryptococcosis remains a leading cause of meningitis and mortality among people living with HIV (PLHIV) worldwide. We sought to evaluate laboratory-based cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) reflex testing and a clinic-based point-of-care (POC) CrAg screening intervention for preventing meningitis and mortality among PLHIV in South Africa. METHODS: We conducted a prospective pre-post intervention study of adults presenting for HIV testing in Umlazi township, South Africa, over a 6-year period (2013-2019). Participants were enrolled during 3 phases of CrAg testing: CrAg testing ordered by a clinician (clinician-directed testing, 2013-2015); routine laboratory-based CrAg reflex testing for blood samples with CD4 ≤100 cells/mm3 (laboratory reflex testing, 2015-2017); and a clinic-based intervention with POC CD4 testing and POC CrAg testing for PLHIV with CD4 ≤200 cells/mm3 with continued standard-of-care routine laboratory reflex testing among those with CD4 ≤100 cells/mm3 (clinic-based testing, 2017-2019). The laboratory and clinical teams performed serum CrAg by enzyme immunoassay and lateral flow assay (Immy Diagnostics, Norman, OK). We followed up participants for up to 14 months to compare associations between baseline CrAg positivity, antiretroviral therapy and fluconazole treatment initiation, and outcomes of cryptococcal meningitis, hospitalization, and mortality. RESULTS: Three thousand one hundred five (39.4%) of 7877 people screened were HIV-positive, of whom 908 had CD4 ≤200 cells/mm3 and were included in the analyses. Laboratory reflex and clinic-based testing increased CrAg screening (P < 0.001) and diagnosis of CrAg-positive PLHIV (P = 0.011). When compared with clinician-directed testing, clinic-based CrAg testing showed an increase in the number of PLHIV diagnosed with cryptococcal meningitis (4.5% vs. 1.5%; P = 0.059), initiation of fluconazole preemptive therapy (7.2% vs. 2.5%; P = 0.010), and initiation of antiretroviral therapy (96.8% vs. 91.3%; P = 0.012). Comparing clinic-based testing with laboratory reflex testing, there was no significant difference in the cumulative incidence of cryptococcal meningitis (4.5% vs. 4.1%; P = 0.836) or mortality (8.1% vs. 9.9%; P = 0.557). CONCLUSIONS: Laboratory reflex and clinic-based CrAg testing facilitated the diagnosis of HIV-associated cryptococcosis and fluconazole initiation but did not reduce cryptococcal meningitis or mortality. In this nonrandomized cohort, clinical outcomes were similar between laboratory reflex testing and clinic-based POC CrAg testing.