Category Archives: Epidemiology
Alcohol use and associated risk factors among female sex workers in low- and middle-income countries: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Due to its widespread use in the sex work industry, female sex workers (FSWs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are at high risk of harmful alcohol use and associated...
Antivirals for prevention of hepatitis B virus mother-to-child transmission in human immunodeficiency virus positive pregnant women co-infected with hepatitis B virus
BACKGROUND: Hepatitis B virus (HBV)-human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection promotes an aggressive disease course of HBV infection. In the only available non-Cochrane systematic review on antiviral therapy during pregnancy for...
Clinical features of Cytomegalovirus retinitis in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome and efficacy of the current therapy
Background: Cytomegalovirus retinitis (CMVR) is the most common and sight-threatening opportunistic retinal infection in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and several controversies remain to be settled. We aimed to summarize...
Trends in HIV testing, the treatment cascade, and HIV incidence among men who have sex with men in Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) are disproportionately affected by HIV. In Africa, MSM face structural barriers to HIV prevention and treatment that increase their...
Adherence to option B+ PMTCT program and its predictors among HIV-positive women in Ethiopia. A systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: Previously, few studies investigated level of adherence to option B+ lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) in Ethiopia. However, their findings were inconsistent. Therefore, this review aimed to determine the pooled magnitude...
Prevalence of soil-transmitted helminth infections in HIV patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Soil-transmitted Helminth (STH) infections have been found associated with people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) but little is known about the overall burden of STH coinfection in HIV patients....
The impact of multiple-behavior HIV interventions as a function of regional disadvantages: An analysis of syndemics
OBJECTIVE: Disadvantaged populations, including inhabitants of developing countries as well as racial/ethnic and sexual minorities in the United States, are disproportionally burdened by human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, delayed HIV...
COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis
OBJECTIVE: To assess coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine acceptance among people living with HIV (PLHIV) worldwide. METHODS: We searched MEDLINE, PSYINFO, CINHAL, Scopus and EMBASE databases and other sources including...
Uptake and barriers to cervical cancer screening among human immunodeficiency virus-positive women in Sub Saharan Africa: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: Cervical cancer is the leading cause of disability and mortality among women in Africa. Despite a significant correlation between HIV/AIDS and cervical cancer, there is unacceptably low coverage of the...
Characterizing blood pressure trajectories in people living with HIV following antiretroviral therapy: A systematic review
Objectives: The advent of antiretroviral therapy (ART) has reduced AIDS-related morbidity and mortality among people living with HIV (PLWH). Due to increased survival, PLWH have now been found to be at...
Prevalence of injecting drug use and HIV, hepatitis B, and hepatitis C in people who inject drugs in the Eastern Mediterranean region: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Background: Considerable disease burden is attributed to injecting drug use (IDU). This regional systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the prevalence of IDU and the characteristics of people who inject...
Coronavirus (COVID-19) and sexualised drug use among men who have sex with men: A systematic review
Drug-related harms, including harms from sexualised drug use (SDU), are disproportionately experienced by sexual and gender minority people, relative to their majority counterparts. Chemsex, a type of SDU practiced mainly...
