Home-based anthropometric, blood pressure and pulse measurements in young children by trained data collectors in the National Children's Study.

OBJECTIVE: The current study assessed whether home-based data collection by trained data collectors can produce high-quality physical measurement data in young children. DESIGN: The study assessed the quality of intra-examiner measurements of blood pressure, pulse rate and anthropometric dimensions using intra-examiner reliability and intra-examiner technical error of measurement (TEM). SETTING: Non-clinical, primarily private homes of National Children's Study participants in twenty-two study locations across the USA. SUBJECTS: Children in four age groups: 5-7 months (n 91), 11-16 months (n 393), 23-28 months (n 1410) and 35-40 months (n 800). RESULTS: Absolute TEM ranged in value from 0·09 to 16·21, varying widely by age group and measure, as expected. Relative TEM spanned from 0·27 to 13·71 across age groups and physical measures. Reliabilities for anthropometric measurements by age group and measure ranged from 0·46 to >0·99 with most exceeding 0·90, suggesting that the large majority of anthropometric measures can be collected in a home-based setting on young children by trained data collectors. Reliabilities for blood pressure and pulse rate measurements by age group ranged from 0·21 to 0·74, implying these are less reliably measured with young children when taken in the data collection context described here. CONCLUSIONS: Reliability estimates >0·95 for weight, length, height, and thigh, waist and head circumference, and >0·90 for triceps and subscapular skinfolds, indicate that these measures can be collected in the field by trained data collectors without compromising data quality. These estimates can be used for interim evaluations of data collector training and measurement protocols.

A Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial to Increase PrEP Uptake for HIV Prevention: 55-Week Results From PrEPChicago.

OBJECTIVES: We tested preliminary efficacy of a peer change agent type I network intervention to increase pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) linkage to care among network members connected to young Black men who have sex with men. DESIGN: Parent study is a pragmatic randomized controlled trial with 110 weeks of total follow-up. Interim midpoint analyses are performed here using participant data before crossover assignment at 55 weeks. METHODS: We randomly assigned 423 participants in Chicago to receive the network intervention, an opinion leader workshop with telephonic booster sessions, versus a time-matched control from 2016 to 2018. The consolidated surrogate outcome was PrEP referral and linkage to clinical care among network members connected to study participants and was collected from independent administrative data. RESULTS: Each study participant in the trial (n = 423) had on average 1822 network contacts who could be eligible for PrEP referral and linkage. During the 55-week observation period, PrEP referral was most likely to occur within 3 days of an intervention session compared to control [odds ratio (OR) 0.07 (0.02-0.013); P = 0.007] resulting in 1-2 referrals of network members per session. Network members with referral or linkage were more likely to be connected to study participants in the intervention arm than the control condition [aOR 1.50 (1.09-2.06); P = 0.012]. CONCLUSIONS: A peer change agent type I network intervention is preliminarily effective at diffusing PrEP through a network of individuals highly susceptible to HIV over 55 weeks. This low-intensity intervention demonstrated network-level impact among populations that have experienced limited PrEP care engagement in the United States.