The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, in cooperation with the National Institutes of Health.
Included in the list of organizations are the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Earlier studies indicated a safe decrease in antibiotic use for non-severe acute respiratory infections in primary care, achieved via point-of-care C-reactive protein (CRP) testing. Although these trials occurred within a research environment, with close monitoring by research personnel, this support could have affected prescribing behaviors. We sought to practically evaluate the potential for expanding point-of-care CRP testing in respiratory illnesses through a pragmatic trial conducted in a standard clinical practice setting.
Between June 1, 2020, and May 12, 2021, a controlled trial, cluster-randomized and pragmatic in nature, was deployed at 48 commune health centres in Vietnam. Eligible health centers, accommodating populations of over 3,000 individuals, addressed 10-40 instances of respiratory infections each week, possessing on-site licensed prescribers, and keeping meticulously maintained electronic patient records. By random selection, 11 centers were allocated to receive either point-of-care CRP testing and routine care, or routine care only. District and baseline prescription levels (the proportion of patients with suspected acute respiratory infections given antibiotics in 2019) were used to stratify randomization. Patients aged between 1 and 65 years, presenting at the commune health centre with a suspected acute respiratory infection characterized by at least one focal sign or symptom and symptoms lasting under seven days, were deemed eligible. tissue-based biomarker The primary end point focused on the rate of antibiotic prescription at first patient contact, encompassing all enrolled participants within the intention-to-treat framework. The per-protocol analysis focused exclusively on those people who completed CRP testing. The indicators of secondary safety were the duration until symptom resolution and the rate of hospital visits. Segmental biomechanics This trial's presence is explicitly noted within the ClinicalTrials.gov system. Study NCT03855215.
Twenty-four of the 48 enrolled commune health centers were randomly assigned to the intervention group, representing 18,621 patients, and another 24 were assigned to the control group, comprising 21,235 patients. GDC-0941 clinical trial The intervention group experienced a prescription rate of 17,345 patients (931%) receiving antibiotics, significantly different from the control group's rate of 20,860 patients (982%). The adjusted relative risk was 0.83 (95% confidence interval: 0.66-0.93). From a total of 18621 intervention group patients, a mere 2606 (representing 14%) underwent CRP testing and were included in the per-protocol analysis. When the analysis was focused on this population, a more pronounced decrease in prescribing was seen in the intervention group compared with the control group (adjusted relative risk 0.64 [95% confidence interval 0.60-0.70]). The groups exhibited no disparity in symptom resolution time (hazard ratio 0.70 [95% CI 0.39-1.27]) and the incidence of hospitalizations (9 in the intervention group, 17 in the control group; adjusted relative risk 0.52 [95% CI 0.23-1.17]).
The use of point-of-care CRP testing in Vietnamese primary healthcare settings significantly reduced antibiotic prescriptions for patients with non-severe acute respiratory infections, and did not compromise patient recovery. The insufficient utilization of CRP testing indicates a critical need to address the challenges in implementation and compliance before the intervention can be scaled up.
The Australian Government, the UK Government, and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics.
The UK Government, the Australian Government, and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics collaborate.
The interplay between rifampicin and dolutegravir can be addressed through supplemental dolutegravir administration, although practical application in high-prevalence regions is problematic. The investigation focused on whether standard-dose dolutegravir-based antiretroviral therapy (ART) is an acceptable regimen for achieving desired virological results in people with HIV who are also on rifampicin-based antituberculosis therapy.
In Khayelitsha, South Africa, at a single location, the phase 2b, randomized, double-blind, non-comparative, placebo-controlled trial named RADIANT-TB was undertaken. Participants were defined as older than 18 years, with plasma HIV-1 RNA levels above 1000 copies per milliliter, CD4 counts exceeding 100 cells per liter, having either no prior antiretroviral therapy or interrupted first-line therapy, and concurrently on rifampicin-based antituberculosis therapy for under three months duration. Participants (11) were randomly assigned, using a permuted block randomization method (block size 6), to receive either a regimen of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, lamivudine, and dolutegravir, with an additional 50 mg of dolutegravir 12 hours later, or a similar regimen supplemented with a placebo of equivalent dose and timing 12 hours after the initial dose. Participants' anti-tuberculosis treatment involved a two-month course of rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol, subsequently transitioning to a four-month regimen of isoniazid and rifampicin. The primary result was the rate of participants achieving virological suppression (HIV-1 RNA less than 50 copies per milliliter) at 24 weeks, within the modified intention-to-treat study population. This study, a registered clinical trial, is listed on ClinicalTrials.gov. The NCT03851588 clinical trial.
A randomized, controlled trial encompassing the period from November 28, 2019, to July 23, 2021, involved 108 participants, of whom 38 were female. The median age of participants was 35 years (interquartile range: 31-40). These participants were randomly assigned to receive either supplemental dolutegravir (n=53) or a placebo (n=55). In regards to baseline CD4 counts, the median was 188 cells per liter, with an interquartile range of 145-316, along with the median HIV-1 RNA level being 52 log.
Copies per milliliter were found to have a minimum of 46 and a maximum of 57. By week 24, a significant number of participants (43 of 52, 83%, 95% confidence interval 70-92) in the dolutegravir group and 44 out of 53 (83%, 95% confidence interval 70-92) in the placebo arm demonstrated virological suppression. The 19 study participants who experienced virological failure, as per the study's definition, exhibited no treatment-emergent dolutegravir resistance mutations up to week 48. There was a consistent incidence of grade 3 and 4 adverse events in each experimental group. Insomnia, pneumonia, and weight loss, each affecting 3% of 108 patients, constituted the most frequent grade 3 and 4 adverse events, specifically weight loss affecting 4 (4%).
Our observations imply that a twice-daily dosing schedule of dolutegravir might be dispensable in individuals with concurrent HIV and tuberculosis.
The Wellcome Trust.
Wellcome Trust, a key contributor to the medical research community.
A focus on improving short-term risk scores, involving multiple components, for mortality in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), could result in better long-term outcomes. We explored whether the predictive value of PAH risk scores adequately captured clinical worsening or mortality in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension.
Our meta-analytic approach utilized individual participant data from RCTs specifically chosen from the FDA's PAH trials collection. The anticipated risk was calculated using the risk scores from COMPERA, COMPERA 20, non-invasive FPHR, REVEAL 20, and REVEAL Lite. The critical metric assessed was the period until clinical deterioration, a multifaceted endpoint encompassing any of the following occurrences: mortality from any cause, hospitalization due to worsening pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), lung transplantation, atrial septostomy, withdrawal from the study treatment (or study discontinuation) for worsening PAH, the initiation of parenteral prostacyclin analog therapy, or a decrease of at least 15% in the six-minute walk distance from baseline, coupled with either a worsening in the WHO functional class from the starting point or the addition of an authorized PAH treatment. A key secondary outcome assessed was the time it took for death from any cause. Employing mediation and meta-analytic frameworks, we assessed the substitutability of these risk scores, parameterized by attainment of low-risk status by 16 weeks, in relation to improved long-term clinical worsening and survival.
Three randomized controlled trials (AMBITION, GRIPHON, and SERAPHIN) from the 28 FDA-received trials, involving 2508 patients, contained the data suitable for evaluating long-term surrogacy. Regarding the mean age of the participants, it was found to be 49 years (SD = 16). In terms of demographics, 1956 (78%) of the participants were female, 1704 (68%) identified as White, and 280 (11%) as Hispanic or Latino. Of the 2503 participants with data, 1388, representing 55%, suffered from idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), and 776, or 31%, exhibited PAH associated with connective tissue diseases. Mediation analysis revealed that attainment of low-risk status accounted for only a small portion of treatment effects, ranging from 7% to 13%. The treatment effects on low-risk status, as assessed across various trial regions, were not predictive of the treatment's effect on the time until clinical worsening.
A study of the correlation between values 001-019 and the time to all-cause mortality, as influenced by treatments, is presented here.
The numerical range 0 to 02 is presented here. Analysis using a leave-one-out approach suggested that employing these risk scores as surrogates could lead to inferences that are biased regarding therapy effects on clinical outcomes in PAH RCTs. The results remained consistent when absolute risk scores at sixteen weeks served as surrogate markers.
The usefulness of multicomponent risk scores is apparent in predicting outcomes associated with PAH. Observational studies of surrogacy outcomes cannot definitively establish long-term effects of clinical surrogacy. Our investigation of three PAH trials with significant long-term follow-up strongly suggests the necessity for further research before these or other scores can be applied as surrogate endpoints in PAH randomized controlled trials or clinical practice.