Research Articles (Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care)

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Browsing Research Articles (Centre for Evidence-Based Health Care) by Author "Adetokunboh, Olatunji O."

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    Antiviral efficacy and safety of abacavir-containing combination antiretroviral therapy as first-line treatment of HIV-infected children and adolescents : a systematic review protocol
    (BioMed Central, 2014-08) Adetokunboh, Olatunji O.; Schoonees, Anel; Wiysonge, Charles S.
    Abstract Background: Abacavir is one of the recommended nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) for the treatment of HIV infections among children and adolescents. However, there are concerns that the antiviral efficacy of abacavir might be low when compared to other NRTIs especially among children. There are also concerns that abacavir use may lead to serious adverse events such as hypersensitivity reactions and has potential predisposition to developing cardiovascular diseases. Methods: We plan to do a systematic review to evaluate the antiviral efficacy and safety of abacavir-containing combination antiretroviral therapy as first-line treatment of HIV-infected children aged between 3 months and 18 years, compared with other NRTIs. We will search Scopus, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, MEDLINE, and Web of Science databases for eligible studies regardless of language or publication status. We will check the reference lists of included studies, search relevant conference proceedings, email the authors of included studies and also look for unpublished and ongoing trials in prospective clinical trial registries. Two authors will independently screen search outputs, select studies, extract data and assess the risk of bias in included studies. All disagreements will be resolved by discussion and consensus. Where data allow, we will conduct meta-analysis for similar types of participants, study designs, interventions, and outcome measures. If the results are statistically homogeneous, we will use the fixed-effect model; otherwise, we will use the random-effects model and explore the reasons for heterogeneity using subgroup analyses. Heterogeneity will be assessed with the Chi-squared test and quantified with the I-squared statistic. Discussion: The findings will be useful to policy makers and programme managers to inform treatment and management of HIV in children and adolescents and to point out research gaps for future research. Trial registration: This review is registered with PROSPERO, registration number CRD42014009157.
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    Efficacy and safety of abacavir-containing combination antiretroviral therapy as first-line treatment of HIV infected children and adolescents : a systematic review and meta-analysis
    (BioMed Central, 2015-10) Adetokunboh, Olatunji O.; Schoonees, Anel; Balogun, Tolulope A.; Wiysonge, Charles S.
    Background: Abacavir is one of the recommended nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) for the treatment of HIV infections among children and adolescents. However, there are concerns that the antiviral efficacy of abacavir might be low when compared to other NRTIs especially among children. There are also concerns that abacavir use may lead to serious adverse events such as hypersensitivity reactions and has potential predisposition to developing cardiovascular diseases Methods: We searched four electronic databases, four conference proceedings and two clinical trial registries in August 2014, without language restrictions. Experimental and observational studies with control groups that examined the efficacy and safety of abacavir-containing regimens in comparison with other NRTIs as first-line treatment for HIV-infected children and adolescents aged between one month and eighteen years were eligible. Two authors independently screened search results, extracted data and assessed the risk of bias of included studies using a pre-specified, standardised data extraction form and validated risk of bias tools. We also assessed the quality of evidence per outcome with the GRADE tool. Results: We included two randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and two analytical cohort studies with a total of 10,595 participants. Among the RCTs we detected no difference in virologic suppression after a mean duration of 48 weeks between abacavir- and stavudine-containing regimens (2 trials; n = 326: RR 1.28; 95 % CI 0.67–2.42) with significant heterogeneity (P = 0.02; I2 = 81 %). We also found no significant differences between the two groups for adverse events and death. After five years of follow-up, virologic suppression improved with abacavir (1 trial; n = 69: RR 1.96; 95 % CI 1.11–3.44). For cohort studies, we detected that the virologic suppression activity of abacavir was less effective than stavudine in both the lopinavir/ritonavir (1 study, n= 2165: RR 0.79, 95 % CI 0.67–0.92) and efavirenz sub-groups (1 study, n = 3204: RR 0.79, 95 % CI 0.67–0.92) respectively. The quality of evidence from RCTs was moderate for virologic suppression but low for death and adverse events, while that of cohort studies was low for all three these outcomes. Conclusions: Available evidence showed little or no difference between abacavir-containing regimen and other NRTIs regarding efficacy and safety when given to children and adolescents as a first-line antiretroviral therapy.