Browsing by Person "Fielding, Katherine L."

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Algorithm-guided empirical tuberculosis treatment for people with advanced HIV (TB Fast Track): An open-label, cluster-randomised trial
(Elsevier, 2019-11-11) Grant, Alison D.; Charalambous, Salome; Tlali, Mpho; Karat, Aaron S.; Dorman, Susan E.; Hoffmann, Christopher J.; Johnson, Suzanne; Vassall, Anna; Churchyard, Gavin J.; Fielding, Katherine L.
Background Tuberculosis, which is often undiagnosed, is the major cause of death among HIV-positive people. We aimed to test whether the use of a clinical algorithm enabling the initiation of empirical tuberculosis treatment by nurses in primary health-care clinics would reduce mortality compared with standard of care for adults with advanced HIV disease.
All non-adherence is equal, but is some more equal than others? TB in the digital era
(European Respiratory Society, 2020-11-02) Stagg, Helen R.; Flook, Mary; Martinecz, Antal; Kielmann, Karina; Abel Zur Wiesch, Pia; Karat, Aaron S.; Lipman, Marc; Sloan, Derek J.; Walker, Elizabeth F.; Fielding, Katherine L.
Adherence to treatment for tuberculosis (TB) has been a concern for many decades, resulting in the World Health Organization’s recommendation of the direct observation of treatment in the 1990s. Recent advances in digital adherence technologies (DATs) have renewed discussion on how to best address non-adherence, as well as offering important information on dose-by-dose adherence patterns and their variability between countries and settings. Previous studies have largely focussed on percentage thresholds to delineate sufficient adherence, but this is misleading and limited, given the complex and dynamic nature of adherence over the treatment course. Instead, we apply a standardised taxonomy- as adopted by the international adherence community- to dose-by-dose medication-taking data, which divides missed doses into a) late/non-initiation (starting treatment later than expected/not starting), b) discontinuation (ending treatment early), and c) suboptimal implementation (intermittent missed doses). Using this taxonomy, we can consider the implications of different forms of non-adherence for intervention and regimen design. For example, can treatment regimens be adapted to increase the ‘forgiveness’ of common patterns of suboptimal implementation to protect against treatment failure and the development of drug resistance? Is it reasonable to treat all missed doses of treatment as equally problematic and equally common when deploying DATs? Can DAT data be used to indicate the patients that need enhanced levels of support during their treatment course? Critically, we pinpoint key areas where knowledge regarding treatment adherence is sparse and impeding scientific progress.
Autopsy prevalence of tuberculosis and other potentially treatable infections among adults with advanced HIV enrolled in out-patient care in South Africa
(PLOS, 2016-11-09) Karat, Aaron S.; Omar, Tanvier; von Gottberg, Anne; Tlali, Mpho; Chihota, Violet N.; Churchyard, Gavin J.; Fielding, Katherine L.; Johnson, Suzanne; Martinson, Neil A.; McCarthy, Kerrigan; Wolter, Nicole; Wong, Emily B.; Charalambous, Salome; Grant, Alison D.; Cardona, Pere-Joan
Background Early mortality among HIV-positive adults starting antiretroviral therapy (ART) remains high in resource-limited settings, with tuberculosis (TB) the leading cause of death. However, current methods to estimate TB-related deaths are inadequate and most autopsy studies do not adequately represent those attending primary health clinics (PHCs). This study aimed to determine the autopsy prevalence of TB and other infections in adults enrolled at South African PHCs in the context of a pragmatic trial of empiric TB treatment (“TB Fast Track”).
Measuring mortality due to HIV-associated tuberculosis among adults in South Africa: Comparing verbal autopsy, minimally-invasive autopsy, and research data
(PLOS, 2017-03-23) Karat, Aaron S.; Tlali, Mpho; Fielding, Katherine L.; Charalambous, Salome; Chihota, Violet N.; Churchyard, Gavin J.; Hanifa, Yasmeen; Johnson, Suzanne; McCarthy, Kerrigan; Martinson, Neil A.; Omar, Tanvier; Kahn, Kathleen; Chandramohan, Daniel; Grant, Alison D.; Isaakidis, Petros
Background The World Health Organization (WHO) aims to reduce tuberculosis (TB) deaths by 95% by 2035; tracking progress requires accurate measurement of TB mortality. International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes do not differentiate between HIV-associated TB and HIV more generally. Verbal autopsy (VA) is used to estimate cause of death (CoD) patterns but has mostly been validated against a suboptimal gold standard for HIV and TB. This study, conducted among HIV-positive adults, aimed to estimate the accuracy of VA in ascertaining TB and HIV CoD when compared to a reference standard derived from a variety of clinical sources including, in some, minimally-invasive autopsy (MIA).
Performance of verbal autopsy methods in estimating HIV-associated mortality among adults in South Africa
(BMJ, 2018-07-03) Karat, Aaron S.; Maraba, Noriah; Tlali, Mpho; Charalambous, Salome; Chihota, Violet N.; Churchyard, Gavin J.; Fielding, Katherine L.; Hanifa, Yasmeen; Johnson, Suzanne; McCarthy, Kerrigan M.; Kahn, Kathleen; Chandramohan, Daniel; Grant, Alison D.; Topp, Stephanie M.
Introduction Verbal autopsy (VA) can be integrated into civil registration and vital statistics systems, but its accuracy in determining HIV-associated causes of death (CoD) is uncertain. We assessed the sensitivity and specificity of VA questions in determining HIV status and antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation and compared HIV-associated mortality fractions assigned by different VA interpretation methods.