Browsing by Author "Sunpath, Henry"

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    Normative scores for a brief neuropsychological battery for the detection of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) among South Africans
    (BioMed Central Ltd, 2010) Singh, Dinesh; Joska, John; Goodkin, Karl; Lopez, Enrique; Myer, Landon; Paul, Robert; John, Sally; Sunpath, Henry
    BACKGROUND:There is an urgent need to more accurately diagnose HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) in Africa. Rapid screening tests for HIV-associated dementia are of limited utility due to variable sensitivity and specificity. The use of selected neuropsychological tests is more appropriate, but norms for HIV seronegative people are not readily available for sub-Saharan African populations. We sought to derive normative scores for two commonly used neuropsychological tests that generate four test scores -- namely the Trail-Making Test (Parts A and B) and the Digit Span Test [Forward (DSF) and Backward (DSB)]. To assess memory and recall, we used the memory item of the International HIV Dementia Scale (IHDS).FINDINGS:One hundred and ten HIV seronegative participants were assessed at McCord Hospital, Durban, South Africa between March 3rd and October 31st, 2008. We excluded people with major depressive disorder, substance use abuse and dependence and head injuries (with or without loss of consciousness). All the participants in this study were African and predominantly female with an average age of 28.5 years and 10 years of education. Age and gender influenced neuropsychological functioning, with older people performing worse. The effect of gender was not uniform across all the tests. CONCLUSION: These two neuropsychological tests can be administered with the IHDS in busy antiretroviral clinics. Their performance can be measured against these norms to more accurately diagnose the spectrum and progression of HAND.
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    Short term adherence tool predicts failure on second line protease inhibitor-based antiretroviral therapy: an observational cohort study
    (BioMed Central, 2014-12-04) Court, Richard; Leisegang, Rory; Stewart, Annemie; Sunpath, Henry; Murphy, Richard; Winternheimer, Philip; Ally, Mashuda; Maartens, Gary
    Background: Most patients who experience virologic failure (VF) on second line antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low-middle income countries fail due to poor adherence rather than antiretroviral resistance. A simple adherence tool designed to detect VF would conserve resources by rationally limiting need for viral load (VL) testing and, in those countries with access to third line ART, the need for resistance testing. Methods: We conducted an observational cohort study of patients who initiated second line ART at a clinic in Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa. Using clinical and pharmacy refill data extracted from the clinic’s electronic database, we determined risk factors for VF. Three different methods of calculating short term pharmacy refill adherence were evaluated and compared with long term adherence since second line initiation. We also explored the ability of differing durations of short term pharmacy refill to predict VF on second line ART. Results: We included 274 patients with a median follow up of 27 months on second line ART. VF ranged between 3% and 16% within each six month interval after initiating second line ART. 243 patients with at least one VL after 4 months on second line were analysed in the statistical analysis. Pharmacy refill adherence assessed over shorter periods (4 to 6 months) predicted virologic suppression as well as pharmacy refill assessed over longer periods. The risk of VF fell 73% with each 10% increase in adherence measured from pharmacy refills over a 4 month period. Low CD4 count at second line ART initiation was a significant independent risk factor for VF. Conclusion: Patients identified as poorly adherent by short term pharmacy refill are at risk for VF on second line ART. This pragmatic adherence tool could assist in identifying patients who require adherence interventions, and help rationalize use of VL monitoring and resistance testing among patients on second line ART.