Category Archives: Mental Health
The relationship between potentially traumatic or stressful events, HIV infection and neurocognitive impairment (NCI): A systematic review of observational epidemiological studies
BACKGROUND: HIV/AIDS and potentially traumatic events (PTEs) or stressful life events (SLEs) and/or PTSD are independently associated with neurocognitive impairment (NCI). Literature suggests that HIV and PTE/SLE exposure independently and...
Immunological and Psychological Efficacy of Meditation/Yoga Intervention Among People Living With HIV (PLWH): A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses of 19 Randomized Controlled Trials
BACKGROUND: An expanding number of mind-body therapies are being used to reduce the psychological burden of peoples living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). However, the effects on the immune system...
Informing the measurement of wellbeing among young people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa for policy evaluations: A mixed-methods systematic review
Young people living with HIV (YPLHIV) in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are at high risk of having a poor quality of life. Addressing wellbeing explicitly within HIV/AIDS policies could assist mitigation...
Antiretroviral therapy improves neurocognitive impairment in people living with HIV? A meta-analysis
Objectives: Although effective antiretroviral therapy (ART) has been used for more than two decades, HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder remains prevalent. Thus, whether ART can improve neurocognitive impairment is controversial. This review...
Peripheral immune dysregulation in the ART era of HIV-associated neurocognitive impairments: A systematic review
Human immunodeficiency virus-associated neurocognitive impairment (HANI) remains problematic despite the effective use of antiretroviral therapy (ART) and viral suppression. A dysregulated immune response contributes to the development of HANI but...
A systematic review and meta-analysis of interventions for orphans and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS worldwide
BACKGROUND: Worldwide, there are more than 13.3 million orphans and vulnerable children affected by Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) (HIV OVC), defined as individuals below...
Food insecurity and the risk of depression in people living with HIV/AIDS: A systematic review and meta-analysis
BACKGROUND: The link between food insecurity and depression in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) has been explored in numerous studies; however, the existing evidence is inconclusive due to inconsistent results....
The pharmacogenetics of efavirenz metabolism in children: The potential genetic and medical contributions to child development in the context of long-term ARV treatment
Efavirenz (EFV) is a well-known, effective anti-retroviral drug long used in first-line treatment for children and adults with HIV and HIV/AIDS. Due to its narrow window of effective concentrations, between...
Utilizing a life course approach to examine HIV risk for black adolescent girls and young adult women in the United States: A systematic review of recent literature
Objective: Black female youth have been disproportionately burdened by the HIV epidemic. Emerging literature suggests that individual and social-structural factors may uniquely increase HIV risk within this population during key...