Telehealth interventions for transition to self-management in adolescents with allergic conditions: A systematic review.

Telehealth is an emerging approach that uses technology to provide healthcare remotely. Recent publications have outlined the importance of supporting the transition to self-management of adolescents with allergic conditions. However, no synthesis of the evidence base on the use and impact of telehealth interventions for this purpose has been conducted to date.

Notes From the Field: Dispensing of Oral Antiviral Drugs for Treatment of COVID-19 by Zip Code-Level Social Vulnerability - United States, December 23, 2021-August 28, 2022.

Equitable access to COVID-19 therapeutics is a critical aspect of the distribution program led by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Implementation of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis for women of color: Perspectives from healthcare providers and staff from three clinical settings.

Women of color (WOC) account for 83% of new HIV infections among women in the United States. While pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a safe, effective HIV prevention method for women, WOC are less likely to be prescribed PrEP than other populations. Guided by an implementation science research framework, we investigated the implementation of a PrEP initiative for WOC in a US city with high HIV incidence.

Care Facilitation Advances Movement Along the Hepatitis C Care Continuum for Persons With Human Immunodeficiency Virus, Hepatitis C, and Substance Use: A Randomized Clinical Trial (CTN-0064).

Background: Direct-acting antivirals can cure hepatitis C virus (HCV). Persons with HCV/HIV and living with substance use are disadvantaged in benefiting from advances in HCV treatment.

Methods: In this randomized controlled trial, participants with HCV/HIV were randomized between February 2016 and January 2017 to either care facilitation or control.

Heavy Alcohol Use Among Women and Men Living With HIV in Uganda, Russia, and the United States.

Objective: We examined whether gender is associated with heavy drinking in three cohorts of people living with HIV (PLWH) in Mbarara, Uganda; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Boston, Massachusetts.

Method: We conducted secondary analyses of baseline data collected from three cohorts in the Uganda Russia Boston Alcohol Network for Alcohol Research Collaboration on HIV/AIDS (URBAN ARCH) consortium.

COVID-19 Contact Tracing in Two Counties - North Carolina, June-July 2020.

Contact tracing is a strategy implemented to minimize the spread of communicable diseases (1,2). Prompt contact tracing, testing, and self-quarantine can reduce the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (3,4). Community engagement is important to encourage participation in and cooperation with SARS-CoV-2 contact tracing (5).

HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for Conception Among HIV Serodiscordant Couples in the United States: A Cohort Study.

Practice guidelines on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for HIV serodiscordant couples recommend PrEP when the viral load of the partner living with HIV is either detectable or unknown. However, adherence to combination antiretroviral therapy is inconsistent, and research has found that individuals vulnerable to HIV place value on additional protective barriers. We conducted a prospective cohort study to assess the feasibility, perceptions, and adherence associated with periconceptional PrEP use among females without HIV and their male partners living with HIV across four academic medical centers in the United States.

Study protocol for the targeting effective analgesia in clinics for HIV (TEACH) study - a cluster randomized controlled trial and parallel cohort to increase guideline concordant care for long-term opioid therapy among people living with HIV.

: People living with HIV (PLWH) frequently experience chronic pain and receive long-term opioid therapy (LTOT). Adherence to opioid prescribing guidelines among their providers is suboptimal. : This paper describes the protocol of a cluster randomized trial, targeting effective analgesia in clinics for HIV (TEACH), which tested a collaborative care intervention to increase guideline-concordant care for LTOT among PLWH.

Clinical and Sociobehavioral Prediction Model of 30-Day Hospital Readmissions Among People With HIV and Substance Use Disorder: Beyond Electronic Health Record Data.

Background: Under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals receive reduced reimbursements for excessive 30-day readmissions. However, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services does not consider social and behavioral variables in expected readmission rate calculations, which may unfairly penalize systems caring for socially disadvantaged patients, including patients with HIV.

Setting: Randomized controlled trial of patient navigation with or without financial incentives in HIV-positive substance users recruited from the inpatient setting at 11 US hospitals.

Implementing a Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Intervention for Safer Conception among HIV Serodiscordant Couples: Recommendations for Health Care Providers.

Couples in HIV serodiscordant relationships frequently desire children. Although partners who are virally suppressed pose almost no risk of transmitting HIV to their partners, partners who are inconsistently on therapy may transmit HIV to their partners when attempting to conceive. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is an available safer conception strategy for these couples but is not consistently offered.

Serodiscordant partnerships and opportunities for pre-exposure prophylaxis among partners of women and men living with HIV in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Objective: To describe the frequency of being partnered and having an HIV-negative partner, and whether this differed by gender, among a cohort of persons living with HIV (PLWH) who have ever injected drugs; to describe awareness of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and perceived partner interest in PrEP.

Setting: Secondary analyses of an observational cohort study of PLWH who have ever injected drugs in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Cost-effectiveness of preexposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention for conception in the United States.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of coformulated Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) for preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for conception in the U.S. and to identify scenarios in which 'Undetectable = Untransmittable' (U = U) may not be adequate, and rather, PrEP or assisted reproduction would improve outcomes.

Evaluation of a computer-based and counseling support intervention to improve HIV patients' viral loads.

We sought to integrate a brief computer and counseling support intervention into the routine practices of HIV clinics and evaluate effects on patients' viral loads. The project targeted HIV patients in care whose viral loads exceeded 1000 copies/ml at the time of recruitment. Three HIV clinics initiated the intervention immediately, and three other HIV clinics delayed onset for 16 months and served as concurrent controls for evaluating outcomes.

Alcohol Consumption and Bone Mineral Density in People with HIV and Substance Use Disorder: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: People living with HIV (PLWH) commonly have low bone mineral density (BMD) (low bone mass and osteoporosis) and are at high risk for fractures. Fractures and low BMD are significant causes of morbidity and mortality, increasingly relevant as PLWH age. Alcohol use is common among PLWH and known to affect bone health.

Chronic Opioid Therapy in People Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus: Patients' Perspectives on Risks, Monitoring, and Guidelines.

Background: Chronic opioid therapy (COT) is common in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV), but is not well studied. We assessed opioid risk behaviors, perceptions of risk, opioid monitoring, and associated Current Opioid Misuse Measure (COMM) scores of PLHIV on COT.

Methods: COT was defined as ≥3 opioid prescriptions ≥21 days apart in the past 6 months.

Gaps Up To 9 Months Between HIV Primary Care Visits Do Not Worsen Viral Load.

Current guidelines specify that visit intervals with viral monitoring should not exceed 6 months for HIV patients. Yet, gaps in care exceeding 6 months are common. In an observational cohort using US patients, we examined the association between gap length and changes in viral load status and sought to determine the length of the gap at which significant increases in viral load occur.

Assessing access to assisted reproductive services for serodiscordant couples with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Objective: To understand the barriers that serodiscordant couples with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) face in accessing services for risk reduction and infertility using assisted reproductive technology (ART).

Design: Two-arm cross-sectional telephone "secret shopper" study.

Setting: Infertility clinics designated by the Society for Assisted Reproductive Technology (SART), 140 from 15 American states with the highest prevalence of heterosexual HIV-infected men.

Optimizing Delivery of HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis for Women in the United States.

Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a highly effective HIV prevention method; however, it is underutilized among women who are at risk for acquisition of HIV. Women comprise one in five HIV diagnoses in the United States, and significant racial disparities in new HIV diagnoses persist. The rate of new HIV diagnoses among black and African American women in 2015 was 16 times greater than that of white women.

Characterising HIV transmission risk among US patients with HIV in care: a cross-sectional study of sexual risk behaviour among individuals with viral load above 1500 copies/mL.

Objectives: Viral load and sexual risk behaviour contribute to HIV transmission risk. High HIV viral loads present greater transmission risk than transient viral 'blips' above an undetectable level. This paper therefore characterises sexual risk behaviour among patients with HIV in care with viral loads>1500 copies/mL and associated demographic characteristics.

Lifetime marijuana and alcohol use, and cognitive dysfunction in people with human immunodeficiency virus infection.

Background: Substance use is common among people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. Alcohol, marijuana, and HIV can have negative effects on cognition. Associations between current and lifetime marijuana and alcohol use and cognitive dysfunction in people with HIV infection were examined.

Experiences Using Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis for Safer Conception Among HIV Serodiscordant Heterosexual Couples in the United States.

Antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is a promising HIV prevention strategy for HIV serodiscordant couples (HIV-infected male, uninfected female) seeking safer conception. However, most research on PrEP for safer conception has focused on couples in sub-Saharan Africa; little is known about the perspectives or experiences of heterosexual couples in the United States. We conducted qualitative interviews with six couples (six women and five of their male partners) receiving PrEP for conception services at an urban safety net hospital in the US Northeast.

HIV-infected individuals who use alcohol and other drugs, and virologic suppression.

People living with HIV (PLWH) on antiretroviral therapy (ART) who use substances were examined to (a) describe those with virologic control and (b) determine which substance use-factors are associated with lack of virologic control. Participants were adult PLWH taking ART with either past 12-month DSM-IV substance dependence or past 30-day alcohol or illicit drug use. Substance use factors included number of DSM-IV alcohol or drug dependence criteria and past 30-day specific substance use.

Lifetime and recent alcohol use and bone mineral density in adults with HIV infection and substance dependence.

Low bone mineral density (BMD) is common in people living with HIV infection (PLWH), increasing fracture risk. Alcohol use is also common in PLWH and is a modifiable risk factor for both HIV disease progression and low BMD. In PLWH, alcohol's effect on BMD is not well understood.

Effect of Patient Navigation With or Without Financial Incentives on Viral Suppression Among Hospitalized Patients With HIV Infection and Substance Use: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Substance use is a major driver of the HIV epidemic and is associated with poor HIV care outcomes. Patient navigation (care coordination with case management) and the use of financial incentives for achieving predetermined outcomes are interventions increasingly promoted to engage patients in substance use disorders treatment and HIV care, but there is little evidence for their efficacy in improving HIV-1 viral suppression rates.

Objective: To assess the effect of a structured patient navigation intervention with or without financial incentives to improve HIV-1 viral suppression rates among patients with elevated HIV-1 viral loads and substance use recruited as hospital inpatients.