Category Archives: Epidemiology and Determinants of Health
Neurocognitive impairment and associated factors among people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis of African studies
BACKGROUND: Neurocognitive impairment (NCI) is one of the most common neurological complications in HIV-positive individuals, particularly in resource-limited countries. Neurocognitive impairments can occur at any stage of HIV infection, although...
A systematic review of the association between smoking exposure and HPV-related cervical cell abnormality among women living with HIV: Implications for prevention strategies
This study aims to evaluate the association between smoking exposure and human papillomavirus (HPV)-related cervical abnormalities among women living with HIV (WLWH). By conducting a systematic review of the current...
Epidemiology of injecting drug use, prevalence of injecting-related harm, and exposure to behavioural and environmental risks among people who inject drugs: A systematic review
Background People who inject drugs are exposed to various and changing risk environments and are at risk of multiple harms related to injecting drug use (IDU). We aimed to undertake...
Selected inflammatory and coagulation biomarkers pre-viral suppression in people with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection without overt cardiovascular disease: Is there a need to redefine reference indices?
Background Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection is prevalent in Africa and causes morbidity and mortality despite antiretroviral therapy (ART). Non-communicable complications of HIV infection include cardiovascular disease (CVD) with thromboses throughout the vascular tree....
Progress of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries towards achieving the 95-95-95 UNAIDS targets: A review
BACKGROUND: In 2014, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and partners launched the 90-90-90 targets. These were further updated to correspond to 95-95-95 by the year 2025. We...
Immunogenicity and reactogenicity of COVID-19 Pfizer-BioNTech (Bnt162b2) mRNA vaccination in immunocompromised adolescents and young adults: A systematic review and meta-analyses
Background: This study aimed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of the BNT162b2 vaccine in immunocompromised adolescents and young adults. Research design and methods: The study conducted a meta-analysis of post-marketing studies...
Barriers and facilitators to HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) in Specialist Sexual Health Services in the United Kingdom: A systematic review using the PrEP Care Continuum
Objectives HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) delivery in the UK is inequitable; over 95% of PrEP users were men who have sex with men (MSM) despite making up less than 50%...
Humoral immune response to two doses of COVID-19 mRNA-based vaccines in people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis
People living with HIV (PLWH) are susceptible to severe COVID-19 infection and hence this fragile population has prioritised vaccination. This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the humoral immune...
Immunogenicity, effectiveness and safety of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in people living with HIV: A systematic review and meta-analysis
Objectives: People living with HIV (PLWH) experience a greater risk of morbidity and mortality following COVID-19 infection, and poorer immunological responses to several vaccines. We explored existing evidence regarding the immunogenicity,...
Disparities in healthcare access and utilization among people living with HIV in China: A scoping review and meta-analysis
Background Healthcare disparities hinder the goal of ending the HIV pandemic by 2030. This review aimed to understand the status of healthcare disparities among people living with HIV (PLWH) in...
The urban environment and disparities in sexual and reproductive health outcomes in the Global South: A scoping review
By 2050, the Global South will contain three-quarters of the world’s urban inhabitants, yet no standardized categorizations of urban areas exist. This makes it challenging to compare sub-groups within cities....
