Halima Mwuese Sule

Patients who present late to HIV care and associated risk factors in Nigeria

Our objectives were to assess trends in late presentation and advanced HIV disease (AHD) and determine associated risk factors.

Presentation and survival of patients with AIDS-related Kaposi's sarcoma in Jos, Nigeria.

AIDS-related Kaposis sarcoma (AIDS-KS) remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. We describe the pattern of presentation and survival in Jos, Nigeria. We identified 48 HIV-positive patients with AIDS-KS and matched them for age and sex with an equal number of HIV-positive patients without AIDS-KS. We compared their clinical, immunological, virological characteristics and survival. They were similar in age and body mass index profile but patients with AIDS-KS had more tuberculosis co-infection (P, 0.02), lower median CD4 count (P, 0.003) and higher mortality (P, 0.002). Surprisingly, patients with AIDS-KS had lower levels of median viral load (29,347 copies/mL) compared with controls (80,533 copies/mL). We recommend specific AIDS-KS therapy in addition to highly active antiretroviral therapy in order to improve survival.

HIV associated chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in Nigeria.

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence and risk factors for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among HIV-infected adults in Nigeria. DESIGN Cross-sectional study. METHODS HIV-infected adults aged ≥ 30 years with no acute ailments accessing care at the antiretroviral therapy clinic of Jos University Teaching Hospital were enrolled consecutively. Participants were interviewed to obtain pertinent demographic and clinical information, including exposure to risk factors for COPD. Post-bronchodilator spirometry was carried out. HIV related information was retrieved from the clinic medical records. COPD case-definition was based on the Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) criteria using post-bronchodilator FEV1/FVC <0.7. COPD prevalence was also calculated using the lower limit of normal for FEV1/FVC criteria (LLN) from the European Respiratory Society normative equation. Factors associated with COPD were determined using logistic regression models. RESULTS Study population comprised 356 HIV infected adults with mean age of 44.5 (standard deviation, 7.1) years and 59% were female. The mean time elapsed since HIV diagnosis was 7.0 (SD, 2.6) years and 97.5% of the respondents were on stable ART with virologic suppression present in 67.2%. Prevalence of COPD were 15.4% (95% confidence interval [CI] 11.7-19.2), 12.07% (95% CI 8.67-15.48), 22.19% (95% CI 18.16-26.83) using GOLD, ERS LLN and GLI LLN diagnostic criteria respectively. In multivariate analyses adjusting for gender, exposure to cigarette smoke or biomass, history of pulmonary tuberculosis, use of antiretroviral therapy, current CD4 T-cell count and HIV RNA, only age > 50 years was independently associated with COPD with OR 3.4; 95% CI 1.42-8.17 when compared to ages 30-40 years. CONCLUSION HIV-associated COPD is common in our population of HIV patients.

Treatment Outcomes Among Older Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Infected Adults in Nigeria

Abstract Background Older age at initiation of combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has been associated with poorer clinical outcomes. Our objectives were to compare outcomes between older and younger patients in our clinical cohort in Jos, Nigeria. Methods This retrospective cohort study evaluated patients enrolled on cART at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria between 2004 and 2012. We compared baseline and treatment differences between older (≥50 years) and younger (15–49 years) patients. Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard models estimated survival and loss to follow-up (LTFU) and determined factors associated with these outcomes at 24 months. Results Of 8352 patients, 643 (7.7%) were aged ≥50 years. The median change in CD4 count from baseline was 151 vs 132 (P = .0005) at 12 months and 185 vs 151 cells/mm3 (P = .03) at 24 months for younger and older patients, respectively. A total of 68.9% vs 71.6% (P = .13) and 69.6% vs 74.8% (P = .005) of younger and older patients achieved viral suppression at 12 and 24 months, with similar incidence of mortality and LTFU. In adjusted hazard models, factors associated with increased risk of mortality were male sex, World Health Organization (WHO) stage III/IV, and having a gap in care, whereas being fully suppressed was protective. The risk of being LTFU was lower for older patients, those fully suppressed virologically and with adherence rates >95%. Male sex, lack of education, WHO stage III/IV, body mass index <18.5 kg/m2, and having a gap in care independently predicted LTFU. Conclusions Older patients achieved better viral suppression, and older age was not associated with increased mortality or LTFU in this study.

Sexual dysfunction and its determinants among women infected with HIV

To describe the prevalence of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) and its determinants among women with HIV infection enrolled for care and treatment in an ambulatory care setting.

Prevalence and predictors of severe menopause symptoms among HIV-positive and -negative Nigerian women:

We compared the prevalence of menopause symptoms between women living with HIV to their HIV-negative peers and determined predictors of severe menopause symptoms in Jos, Nigeria. This descriptive cross-sectional study included 714 women aged 40–80 years. We compared prevalence and severity of menopause symptoms using the menopause rating scale (MRS). Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the predictors of severe symptoms. Six-hundred and seven (85.0%) were HIV-positive, with a mean duration of infection of 5.6 ± 2.7 years. The mean age of the cohort was 46 ± 5 years. The most prevalent menopause symptoms were hot flushes (67.2%), joint and muscle discomfort (66.2%), physical/mental exhaustion (65.3%), heart discomfort (60.4%), and anxiety (56.4%). The median MRS score was higher for HIV-positive compared to HIV-negative women (p = 0.01). Factors associated with severe menopause symptoms included HIV-positive status (aOR: 3.01, 95% CI: 1.20–7.54) and history of cigarette smoking (aOR: 4.18, 95% CI: 1.31–13.26). Being married (aOR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.32–0.77), premenopausal (aOR: 0.60, 95% CI: 0.39–0.94), and self-reporting good quality of life (aOR: 0.62. 95% CI: 0.39–0.98) were protective against severe menopause symptoms. We found HIV infection, cigarette smoking, quality of life, and stage of the menopause transition to be associated with severe menopause symptoms. As HIV-positive populations are aging, additional attention should be given to the reproductive health of these women.

Poor immune status and systemic disease are independently associated with mortality in AIDS-related Kaposi Sarcoma in Nigeria

Material and methods We collected epidemiologic, clinical, staging and survival data for 357 patients with a diagnosis of AIDS-KS enrolling for HIV-care at the Jos University Teaching Hospital. Patients were staged according to the AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) criteria, which are based on the evaluation of tumor extension (T), CD4+ cell count (I), and patient’s systemic status (S), stratified by good (0) versus poor (1) risk. Information on survival was obtained through an active follow-up on verification of vital status of the patients. Survival analysis was computed by the KaplanMeier method, and the log-rank test was used to test the difference between subgroups.