Ricardo Andrade Carmo

Non-adherence among patients initiating antiretroviral therapy: a challenge for health professionals in Brazil.

Objective:To assess the incidence, magnitude and factors associated with the first episode of non-adherence for 12 months after the first antiretroviral prescription. Design:A prospective study of HIV-infected patients receiving their first antiretroviral prescription in public referral centers, Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Baseline assessment occurred at the moment of the first prescription and follow-up visits at the first, fourth and seventh month, from May 2001 to May 2003. Methods:Non-adherence was self-reported and defined as the intake of less than 95% of the prescribed doses for 3 days before the follow-up interviews. Cumulative and person-time incidence were estimated and Coxs proportional model was used to assess the relative hazard (RH) of non-adherence with 95% confidence interval for both univariate and multivariate analysis. Results:Among 306 patients, the cumulative incidence of non-adherence was 36.9% (incidence rate 0.21/100 person-days). Multivariate analysis (P < 0.05) showed that unemployment (RH = 2.17), alcohol use (RH = 2.27), self-report of three or more adverse reactions (RH = 1.64), number of pills per day (RH = 2.04), switch in antiretroviral regimen (RH = 2.72), and a longer time between the HIV test result and the first antiretroviral prescription (RH = 2.27) were associated with an increased risk of non-adherence, whereas the use of more than one health service indicated a negative association (RH = 0.54). Conclusion:The current analysis has pointed out the importance of clinical and health service characteristics as potential indicators of non-adherence after initiating therapy. Early assessment and intervention strategies should be priorities in these AIDS public referral centres. Feasible and reliable indicators for the routine monitoring of adherence should be incorporated in clinical practice.

Prevalence of HIV, syphilis, hepatitis B and C among adults with mental illness: a multicenter study in Brazil

OBJECTIVE There is evidence that patients with mental illness have increased prevalence of sexually transmitted infections, but data in Brazil are scarce. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of HIV, hepatitis C and B, and syphilis among patients with mental illness in Brazil. METHOD A multicenter representative sample of adults with mental illness was randomly selected from 26 mental health institutions throughout Brazil. Sociodemographic, sexual behavior and clinical data were obtained from person-to-person interviews and blood was collected for serology testing. Seroprevalence with 95% confidence limits were obtained correcting for sampling scheme. RESULTS Of the 2,475 patients interviewed, 2,238 had blood collected. Most participants were sexually active ever (88.8%) or in the last 6 months (61.6%), female (51.9%), and single (66.6%). Half of the sample had less than 5 years of schooling and the mean monthly individual income was low (US

HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B and C prevalence among patients with mental illness: a review of the literature

210.00). Condom use was very low either during lifetime (8%) or in the last 6 months (16%). Overall seroprevalence were 1.12%, 0.80%, 1.64%, 14.7% and 2.63% for, respectively, syphilis, HIV, HBsAg, anti-HBc and anti-HCV. CONCLUSIONS Seroprevalences found were higher than other populations with representative studies in Brazil, with high rates of sexual risk behavior. This is of public health concern, and prevention and care strategies for sexually transmitted infections among psychiatric patients should urgently be implemented by health authorities.

Health related quality of life among patients with chronic hepatitis C: a cross-sectional study of sociodemographic, psychopathological and psychiatric determinants

A limited number of studies worldwide have investigated the prevalence of HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B and C infection among psychiatric patients. However, prevalence of these infections in the population with chronic mental illness has not been clearly established. Most of the published papers are from developed countries and have derived from relatively small and non-representative samples. We performed a systematic review of the published literature to identify studies on these infectious diseases within psychiatric populations in Brazil and other developing countries. Overall, prevalence rates varied from 0% to 29% for HIV; 1.6% to 66% for HBV; 0.4% to 38% for HCV; and 1.1% to 7.6% for syphilis. Several risk factors were identified and discussed, although sampling limitations restrict the generalization of study findings. This review highlights the lack of information on the prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases and their associated factors among persons with chronic mental illness and identifies gaps in the knowledge base in both developing and developed countries.

Hepatitis C virus infection among Brazilian hemophiliacs: a virological, clinical and epidemiological study

INTRODUCTION Chronic hepatitis C virus infection patients have higher rates of psychiatric disorders than the general population. Chronic hepatitis C virus infection is known to be associated with impaired health related quality of life. To our knowledge, there is no previous research of health related quality of life in chronic hepatitis C patients that combined structured psychiatric interview and careful psychopathological evaluation, including depression, anxiety and fatigue instruments. The aim of this study was to evaluate health related quality of life of chronic hepatitis C patients and to investigate the association with sociodemographic, psychopathological and psychiatric factors. MATERIALS AND METHODS Eighty-one individuals with chronic hepatitis C virus infection receiving care at a Brazilian public university-based outpatient service for infectious diseases were enrolled in the study. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Brief Version was used to assess health related quality of life. Standard psychiatric interview (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview-Plus) was conducted to establish Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Axis I psychiatric diagnosis. Further instruments completed psychopathological investigation: Beck Depression Inventory, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Brief Fatigue Inventory, Hamilton Depression Scale and Hamilton Anxiety Scale. Pearson Chi-Square and Kruskal-Wallis were performed for categorical and continuous univariate analysis, respectively. Correlation between psychopathological and health related quality of life scores was performed according to Spearmans correlation. Multivariate analysis was performed according to stepwise forward ordinal logistic regression. The significance threshold was fixed at α=0.05. RESULTS Depressive disorders were associated with worse scores in overall health related quality of life and in all domains. Fatigue was associated with lower scores in physical and psychological domains, and married status with higher scores in psychological health related quality of life. We found strong correlation among scores of depression, fatigue and health related quality of life. CONCLUSION Depression and fatigue must be properly investigated and managed in HCV patients in order to improve HRQL. WHOQOL-BREF proved to be a useful instrument to assess HRQL in HCV patients.

Anal HPV prevalence and associated factors among HIV-seropositive men under antiretroviral treatment in Brazil.

We determined and analyzed risk factors of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected Brazilian hemophiliacs according to their virological, clinical and epidemiological characteristics. A cross-sectional and retrospective study of 469 hemophiliacs was carried out at a Brazilian blood center starting in October 1997. The prevalence of HCV infection, HCV genotypes and factors associated with HCV RNA detection was determined. The seroprevalence of anti-HCV antibodies (ELISA-3.0) was 44.6% (209/469). Virological, clinical and epidemiological assessments were completed for 162 positive patients. There were seven (4.3%) anti-HCV seroconversions between October 1992 and October 1997. During the same period, 40.8% of the positive anti-HCV hemophiliacs had abnormal alanine transaminase (ALT) levels. Plasma HCV RNA was detected by nested-RT-PCR in 116 patients (71.6%). RFLP analysis showed the following genotype distribution: HCV-1 in 98 hemophiliacs (84.5%), HCV-3 in ten (8.6%), HCV-4 in three (2.6%), HCV-2 in one (0.9%), and not typeable in four cases (3.4%). Univariate analysis indicated that older age (P = 0.017) and abnormal ALT levels (P = 0.010) were associated with HCV viremia, while the presence of inhibitor antibodies (P = 0.024) and HBsAg (P = 0.007) represented a protective factor against the presence of HCV RNA. These findings may contribute to a better understanding of the relationship between HCV infection and hemophilia.

Hepatitis C virus genotypes in hemophiliacs in the state of Minas Gerais, Brazil

Background:The incidence of anal cancer has increased in developed countries. There is evidence that high-grade anal intraepithelial neoplasia and anal cancer are both linked to some human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. There are scarce data on anal cancer or male anal HPV infection in Brazil. Objective:The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of anal HPV infection and associated risk factors, stratified by oncogenic and nononcogenic types, in a sample of HIV-seropositive men in Brazil. Methods:Multicenter cross-sectional study of HIV-seropositive male patients attending public AIDS clinics in urban Brazil. Participants were interviewed for sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics. Anal HPV specimens were collected with a moistened Dacron swab inserted into the anal and stored in ThinPrep solution. HPV DNA-positive samples were typed by dot-blot hybridization. The prevalences of oncogenic and nononcogenic HPV types were calculated and multinomial logistic regression was used to assess independent predictors of HPV infection. Results:Among 445 men, 65.6% were positive for HPV DNA in the anal canal. Oncogenic types were detected in 40.7%. Logistic regression indicated that lifetime history of sexual intercourse only with men or with men and women; receptive anal intercourse in the last 12 months; and CD4+ lymphocyte count below 200 cells per cubic millimeter were independently associated with the detection of anal HPV infection. Conclusions:The high prevalence of anal HPV infection in this cross-sectional study underscores the need for studying and implementing screening programs of high-risk groups in Brazil.

The influence of HCV coinfection on clinical, immunological and virological responses to HAART in HIV-patients

BACKGROUND: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive‐strand RNA virus composed of at least 10 genotypes and dozens of subtypes. Six major genotypes can be distinguished by restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the amplified 5′ noncoding region (NCR) of the genome. The genotypes are unequally distributed throughout the world. Types 1 and 3 are most common in Europe and the United States. Although fewer studies have been performed in Brazil, the pattern seems to mirror that in the other areas. HCV infection is highly prevalent among hemophiliacs and is a major cause of chronic liver disease.

Screening inventories to detect depression in chronic hepatitis C patients.

The potential impact of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) on clinical, immunological and virological responses to initial highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) of patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is important to evaluate due to the high prevalence of HIV-HCV coinfection. A historical cohort study was conducted among 824 HIV-infected patients starting HAART at a public referral service in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, to assess the impact of HCV seropositivity on appearance of a new AIDS-defining opportunistic illness, AIDS-related death, suppression of viral load, and an increase in CD4-cell count. A total of 76 patients (9.2%) had a positive HCV test, 26 of whom (34.2%) had a history of intravenous drug use. In multivariate analysis, HCV seropositivity was associated with a smaller CD4-cell recovery (RH=0.68; 95% CI [0.49-0.92], but not with progression to a new AIDS-defining opportunistic illness or to AIDS-related death (RH=1.08; 95% CI [0.66-1.77]), nor to suppression of HIV-1 viral load (RH=0.81; 95% CI [0.56-1.17]) after starting HAART. These results indicate that although associated with a blunted CD4-cell recovery, HCV coinfection did not affect the morbidity or mortality related to AIDS or the virological response to initial HAART.

Soluble inflammatory markers as predictors of hepatocellular damage and therapeutic response in chronic hepatitis C

OBJECTIVE To settle the best cutoffs for inventories to diagnose depression in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients. METHOD Seventy-five CHC patients were assessed using a standard psychiatric interview (Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview) to establish Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (DSM-IV) major depression diagnosis and the following inventories: the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), its short form for Primary Care (BDI-PC) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Subscale for Depression (HAD-D). According to the receiver operative characteristic (ROC) curve, the best cutoff to screen for depression was settled, and sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were calculated. Agreement between each inventory and the diagnosis of depression was calculated through Cohens Kappa. Internal consistency was measured through Cronbachs alpha. RESULTS Twenty-one (28%) individuals met criteria for a depressive disorder. BDI, BDI-PC and HAD-D best scores were settled at 18, 5 and 8 points, respectively. They showed the following discriminative properties: sensitivity 81%, 76.2%, 85.7%; specificity 92.6%, 88.9%, 77.8%; positive predictive value 81%, 72.7%, 60%; negative predictive value 92.6%, 90.6%, 93.3%, respectively. ROC curve areas were similar between BDI and BDI-PC, but slightly lower for HAD-D. The agreement between inventories and DSM-IV depression diagnosis was substantial for BDI (0.91) and BDI-PC (0.91) and moderate for HAD-D (0.86). Internal consistency was 0.90, 0.86 and 0.75, respectively. CONCLUSION BDI, BDI-PC and HAD-D showed good discriminative properties to screen for depression in CHC patients and should be considered in clinical practice.