Objectives Chronic conditions and multimorbidity affect care needs and prevention opportunities. Methods We studied 2,246 men and women aged ≥40 years within the Dar es Salaam Urban Cohort Study from June 2017 to July 2018. Seventeen chronic conditions were assessed based on self-report, body and blood pressure measurement, blood tests, and screening instruments. Results Hypertension (51.3%), anemia (34.1%), obesity (32.2%), diabetes (31.6%), depressive symptoms (31.5%), low grip strength (21.2%), and ischemic heart disease (11.9%) were widespread. Multimorbidity was common (73.7%). Women had higher odds of obesity, ischemic heart disease, and high cholesterol (adjusted OR: 2.08–4.16) and lower odds of underweight, low grip strength, alcohol problems, and smoking (adjusted OR: 0.04–0.45). Ten years of age were associated with higher odds of low grip strength, cognitive problems, hypertension, kidney disease, chronic cough, diabetes, high cholesterol, ischemic heart disease, and multimorbidity (adjusted OR: 1.21–1.81) and lower odds of HIV infection (adjusted OR: 0.51). Conclusion We found a higher prevalence of multimorbidity than previously estimated for middle-aged and elderly people in sub-Saharan Africa. The chronic conditions underlying multimorbidity differed by sex.
1. Assess validity of the Oxford Cognitive Screen (OCS-Plus), a domain-specific cognitive assessment designed for low-literacy settings, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC); 2. Advance theoretical contributions in cognitive neuroscience in domain-specific cognitive function and cognitive reserve, especially related to dementia.
Introduction: In South Africa, evidence shows high HIV prevalence in older populations, with sexual behavior consistent with high HIV acquisition and transmission risk. However, there is a dearth of evidence on older people's HIV incidence. Methods: We used a 2010–2011 cohort of HIV-negative adults in rural South Africa who were 40 years or older at retest in 2015–2016 to estimate HIV incidence over a 5-year period. We used Poisson regression to measure the association of HIV seroconversion with demographic and behavioral covariates. We used inverse probability sampling weights to adjust for nonresponse in 2015, based on a logistic regression with predictors of sex and age group at August 2010. Results: HIV prevalence increased from 21% at baseline to 23% in the follow-up survey. From a cohort of 1360 individuals, 33 seroconverted from HIV negative at baseline, giving an overall HIV incidence rate of 0.39 per 100 person-years [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.28 to 0.57]. The rate for women was 0.44 (95% CI: 0.30 to 0.67), double than that for men, 0.21 (95% CI: 0.10 to 0.51). Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) again show women's risk of seroconverting double than that of men (IRR = 2.04, P value = 0.098). In past age 60, the IRR of seroconversion was significantly lower than that for those in their 40s (60–69, IRR = 0.09, P value = 0.002; 70–79, IRR = 0.14, P value = 0.010). Conclusions: The risk of acquiring HIV is not zero for people older than 50 years, especially women. Our findings highlight the importance of acknowledging that older people are at high risk of HIV infection and that HIV prevention and treatment campaigns must take them into consideration.
Understanding how depression is associated with chronic conditions and sociodemographic characteristics can inform the design and effective targeting of depression screening and care interventions. In this study, we present some of the first evidence from sub-Saharan Africa on the association between depressive symptoms and a range of chronic conditions (diabetes, HIV, hypertension, and obesity) as well as sociodemographic characteristics.
The Community-Based Care for Orphans and Vulnerable Children (CBCO) program operated in Kenya during 2006-2010. In Eastern Province, the program provided support to approximately 3000 orphans and vulnerable children (OVC) living in 1500 households. A primary focus of the program was to support savings and loan associations composed of OVC caregivers (typically elderly women) to improve household and OVC welfare. Cross-sectional data were collected in 2011 from 1500 randomly selected households from 3 populations: program participants (CBCO group, n=500), households in the same villages as program participants but not in the program (the local-community-group = Group L, n=300), and households living in nearby villages where the program did not operate (the adjacent-community-group, Group A, n=700). Primary welfare outcomes evaluated are household food security, as measured by the Household Food Insecurity Access instrument, and OVC educational attainment. We compared outcomes between the CBCO and the subset of Group L not meeting program eligibility criteria (L-N) to investigate disparities within local communities. We compared outcomes between the CBCO group and the subset of Group A meeting eligibility criteria (A-E) to consider program impact. We compared outcomes between households not eligible for the program in the local and adjacent community groups (L-N and A-N) to consider if the adjacent communities are similar to the local communities. In May-June 2011, at the end of the OVC program, the majority of CBCO households continued to be severely food insecure, with rates similar to other households living in nearby communities. Participation rates in primary school are high, reflecting free primary education. Among the 18-22 year olds who were "children" during the program years, relatively few children completed secondary school across all study groups. Although the CBCO program likely provided useful services and benefits to program participants, disparities continued to exist in food security and educational outcomes between program participants and their non-OVC peers in the local community. Outcomes for CBCO households were similar to those observed for OVC households in adjacent communities.
Background There is debate over using tenofovir or zidovudine alongside lamivudine in second-line anti-retroviral therapy (ART) following stavudine failure. We analysed outcomes in cohorts from South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe Methods Patients aged ≥16 years who switched from a first-line regimen including stavudine to a ritonavir-boosted lopinavir-based second-line regimen with lamivudine or emtricitabine and zidovudine or tenofovir in seven ART programmes in southern Africa were included. We estimated the causal effect of receiving tenofovir or zidovudine on mortality and virological failure using Cox proportional hazards marginal structural models. Its parameters were estimated using inverse probability of treatment weights. Baseline characteristics were age, sex, calendar year and country. CD4 + T-cell count, creatinine and haemoglobin levels were included as time-dependent confounders. Results A total of 1,256 patients on second-line ART, including 958 on tenofovir, were analysed. Patients on tenofovir were more likely to have switched to second-line ART in recent years, spent more time on first-line ART (33 versus 24 months) and had lower CD4 + T-cell counts (172 versus 341 cells/ml) at initiation of second-line ART. The adjusted hazard ratio comparing tenofovir with zidovudine was 1.00 (95% CI 0.59, 1.68) for virological failure and 1.40 (0.57, 3.41) for death. Conclusions We did not find any difference in treatment outcomes between patients on tenofovir or zidovudine; however, the precision of our estimates was limited. There is an urgent need for randomized trials to inform second-line ART strategies in resource-limited settings.
Objective: More than one in four adults over 40 years with HIV in South Africa are unaware of their status and not receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART). HIV self-testing may offer a powerful approach to closing this gap for aging adults. Here, we report the results of a randomized comparative effectiveness trial of three different home-based HIV testing strategies for middle-aged and older adults in rural South Africa. Design: Two thousand nine hundred and sixty-three individuals in the ‘Health and Ageing in Africa: a Longitudinal Study of an INDEPTH Community in South Africa (HAALSI)’ cohort study were randomized 1 : 1 : 1 to one of three types of home-based and home-delivered HIV testing modalities: rapid testing with counseling; self-testing, and both rapid testing with counselling and self-testing. Method: In OLS regression analyses, we estimated the treatment effects on HIV testing and HIV testing frequency at about 1 year after delivery. Finally, we assessed the potential adverse effects of these strategies on the secondary outcomes of depressive symptom as assessed by the CESD-20, linkage to care, and risky sexual behavior. Results: There were no significant differences in HIV testing uptake or testing frequency across groups. However, respondents in the self-testing treatment arms were more likely to shift from testing at home and a facility [self-testing (HIVST), −8 percentage points (pp); 95% confidence interval (CI) −14 to −2 pp; self-testing plus rapid testing and counselling (ST+RT+C); −9 pp, 95% CI −15 to −3 pp] to testing only at home (HIVST 5 pp; 95% CI 2 to 9 pp; ST+RT+C: 5 pp, 95% CI 1 to 9 pp) – suggesting a revealed preference for self-testing in this population. We also found no adverse effects of this strategy on linkage to care for HIV and common comorbidities, recent sexual partners, or condom use. Finally, those in the self-testing only arm had significantly decreased depressive symptom scores by 0.58 points (95% CI −1.16 to −0.01). Conclusion: We find HIV self-testing to be a well tolerated and seemingly preferred home-based testing option for middle-aged and older adults in rural South Africa. This approach should be expanded to achieve the UNAIDS 95–95–95 targets.
After first-line antiretroviral therapy failure, the importance of change in nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NRTI) in second line is uncertain due to the high potency of protease inhibitors used in second line.We used clinical data from 6290 adult patients in South Africa and Zambia from the International Epidemiologic Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) Southern Africa cohort.We included patients who initiated on standard first-line antiretroviral therapy and had evidence of first-line failure. We used propensity score-adjusted Cox proportional-hazards models to evaluate the impact of change in NRTI on second-line failure compared with remaining on the same NRTI in second line. In South Africa, where viral load monitoring was available, treatment failure was defined as 2 consecutive viral loads >1000 copies/mL. In Zambia, it was defined as 2 consecutive CD4 counts <100 cells/mm.Among patients in South Africa initiated on zidovudine (AZT), the adjusted hazard ratio for second-line virologic failure was 0.25 (95% confidence interval: 0.11 to 0.57) for those switching to tenofovir (TDF) vs. remaining on AZT. Among patients in South Africa initiated on TDF, switching to AZT in second line was associated with reduced second-line failure (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.35 [95% confidence interval: 0.13 to 0.96]). In Zambia, where viral load monitoring was not available, results were less conclusive.Changing NRTI in second line was associated with better clinical outcomes in South Africa. Additional clinical trial research regarding second-line NRTI choices for patients initiated on TDF or with contraindications to specific NRTIs is needed.
To estimate the impact of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on labor productivity and income using detailed employment data from two large tea plantations in western Kenya for HIV-infected tea pluckers who initiated ART.Longitudinal study using primary data on key employment outcomes for a group of HIV-infected workers receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) and workers in the general workforce.We used nearest-neighbor matching methods to estimate the impacts of HIV/AIDS and ART among 237 HIV-positive pluckers on ART (index group) over a 4-year period (2 years pre-ART and post-ART) on 4 monthly employment outcomes - days plucking tea, total kilograms (kgs) harvested, total days working, and total labor income. Outcomes for the index group were compared with those for a matched reference group from the general workforce.We observed a rapid deterioration in all four outcomes for HIV-infected individuals in the period before ART initiation and then a rapid improvement after treatment initiation. By 18-24 months after treatment initiation, the index group harvested 8% (men) and 19% (women) less tea than reference individuals. The index group earned 6% (men) and 9% (women) less income from labor than reference individuals. Women's income would have dropped further if they had not been able to offset their decline in tea plucking by spending more time on nonplucking assignments.HIV-infected workers experienced long-term income reductions before and after initiating ART. The implications of such long-term impacts in low-income countries have not been adequately addressed.
Background Depression is a global mental health challenge. We assessed the prevalence of depressive symptoms and their association with age, chronic conditions, and health status among middle-aged and elderly people in peri-urban Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Methods Depressive symptoms were measured in 2,220 adults aged over 40 years from two wards of Dar es Salaam using the ten-item version of the Center of Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D-10) and a cut-off score of 10 or higher. The associations of depressive symptoms with age, 13 common chronic conditions, multimorbidity, self-rated health and any limitation in six activities of daily living were examined in univariable and multivariable logistic regressions. Results The estimated prevalence of depressive symptoms was 30.7% (95% CI 28.5–32.9). In univariable regressions, belonging to age groups 45–49 years (OR 1.35 [95% CI 1.04–1.75]) and over 70 years (OR 2.35 [95% CI 1.66–3.33]), chronic conditions, including ischemic heart disease (OR 3.43 [95% CI 2.64–4.46]), tuberculosis (OR 2.42 [95% CI 1.64–3.57]), signs of cognitive problems (OR 1.90 [95% CI 1.35–2.67]), stroke (OR 1.56 [95% CI 1.05–2.32]) and anemia (OR 1.32 [95% CI 1.01–1.71]) and limitations in activities of daily living (OR 1.35 [95% CI 1.07–1.70]) increased the odds of depressive symptoms. Reporting good or very good health was associated with lower odds of depressive symptoms (OR 0.48 [95% CI 0.35–0.66]). Ischemic heart disease and tuberculosis remained independent predictors of depressive symptoms in multivariable regressions. Conclusion Depressive symptoms affected almost one in three people aged over 40 years. Their prevalence differed across age groups and was moderated by chronic conditions, health status and socioeconomic factors.
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