Dataset Information

HIV continuum of care: expanding scope beyond a cross-sectional view to include time analysis: a systematic review.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

The continuum of care (CoC) model has been used to describe the main pillars of HIV care. This study aims to systematically review methods and elucidate gaps in the CoC analyses, especially in terms of the timing of the progression through steps, recognized nowadays as a critical parameter for an effective response to the epidemic.

Methods

A PubMed and EMBASE databases search up to December 2019 resulted in 1918 articles, of which 209 were included in this review; 84 studies presented in major HIV conferences were also included. Studies that did not provide explicit definitions, modelling studies and those reporting only on metrics for subpopulations or factors affecting a CoC stage were excluded. Included articles reported results on 1 to 6 CoC stages.

Results

Percentage treated and virally suppressed was reported in 78%, percentage diagnosed and retained in care in 58%, percentage linked to care in 54% and PLHIV in 36% of the articles. Information for all stages was provided in 23 studies. Only 6 articles use novel CoC estimates: One presents a dynamic CoC based on multistate analysis techniques, two base their time-to-next-stage estimates on a risk estimation method based on the cumulative incidence function, weighted for confounding and censoring and three studies estimated the HIV infection time based on mathematical modelling.

Conclusion

A limited number of studies provide elaborated time analyses of the CoC. Although time analyses lack the straightforward interpretation of the cross-sectional CoC, they provide valuable insights for the timely response to the HIV epidemic. A future goal would be to develop a model that retains the simplicity of the cross-sectional CoC but also incorporates timing between stages.

SUBMITTER: Vourli G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8447660 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundPublic health surveillance data are critical to understanding the current state of the HIV and AIDS epidemics. Surveillance data provide significant insight into patterns within and progress toward achieving targets for each of the steps in the HIV care continuum. Such targets include those outlined in the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) goals. If these data are disseminated, they can be used to prioritize certain steps in the continuum, geographic locations, and groups of people.ObjectiveWe sought to develop and report indicators of progress toward the NHAS goals for US cities and to characterize progress toward those goals with categorical metrics.MethodsHealth departments used standardized SAS code to calculate care continuum indicators from their HIV surveillance data to ensure comparability across jurisdictions. We report 2018 descriptive statistics for continuum steps (timely diagnosis, linkage to medical care, receipt of medical care, and HIV viral load suppression) for 36 US cities and their progress toward 2020 NHAS goals as of 2018. Indicators are reported categorically as met or surpassed the goal, within 25% of attaining the goal, or further than 25% from achieving the goal.ResultsCities were closest to meeting NHAS goals for timely diagnosis compared to the goals for linkage to care, receipt of care, and viral load suppression, with all cities (n=36, 100%) within 25% of meeting the goal for timely diagnosis. Only 8% (n=3) of cities were >25% from achieving the goal for receipt of care, but 69% (n=25) of cities were >25% from achieving the goal for viral suppression.ConclusionsDisplay of progress with graphical indicators enables communication of progress to stakeholders. AIDSVu analyses of HIV surveillance data facilitate cities' ability to benchmark their progress against that of other cities with similar characteristics. By identifying peer cities (eg, cities with analogous populations or similar NHAS goal concerns), the public display of indicators can promote dialogue between cities with comparable challenges and opportunities.