Assessing missed opportunities for HIV testing in medical settings

BACKGROUND: Many HIV-infected persons learn about their diagnosis years after initial infection. The extent to which missed opportunities for HIV testing occur in medical evaluations prior to one's HIV diagnosis is not known. DESIGN: We performed a 10-year retrospective chart review of patients seen at an HIV intake clinic between January 1994 and June 2001 who 1). tested positive for HIV during the 12 months prior to their presentation at the intake clinic and 2). had at least one encounter recorded in the medical record prior to their HIV-positive status. Data collection included demographics, clinical presentation, and whether HIV testing was recommended to the patient or addressed in any way in the clinical note. Prespecified triggers for physicians to recommend HIV testing, such as specific patient characteristics, symptoms, and physical findings, were recorded for each visit. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with missed opportunities for discussion of HIV testing. Generalized estimating equations were used to account for multiple visits per subject. RESULTS: Among the 221 patients meeting eligibility criteria, all had triggers for HIV testing found in an encounter note. Triggers were found in 50% (1702/3424) of these 221 patients' medical visits. The median number of visits per patient prior to HIV diagnosis to this single institution was 5; 40% of these visits were to either the emergency department or urgent care clinic. HIV was addressed in 27% of visits in which triggers were identified. The multivariable regression model indicated that patients were more likely to have testing addressed in urgent care clinic (39%), sexually transmitted disease clinic (78%), primary care clinics (32%), and during hospitalization (47%), compared to the emergency department (11%), obstetrics/gynecology (9%), and other specialty clinics (10%) (P <.0001). More recent clinical visits (1997-2001) were more likely to have HIV addressed than earlier visits (P <.0001). Women were offered testing less often than men (P =.07). CONCLUSIONS: Missed opportunities for addressing HIV testing remain unacceptably high when patients seek medical care in the period before their HIV diagnosis. Despite improvement in recent years, variation by site of care remained important. In particular, the emergency department merits consideration for increased resource commitment to facilitate HIV testing. In order to detect HIV infection prior to advanced immunosuppression, clinicians must become more aware of clinical triggers that suggest a patient's increased risk for this infection and lower the threshold at which HIV testing is recommended.     

HIV and risk of venous thromboembolism: a Danish nationwide population‐based cohort study

Objective

The association between HIV infection and the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) is controversial. We examined the risk of VTE in HIV‐infected individuals compared with the general population and estimated the impact of low CD4 cell count, highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and injecting drug use (IDU).

Methods

We identified 4333 Danish HIV‐infected patients from the Danish HIV Cohort Study and a population‐based age‐ and gender‐matched comparison cohort of 43 330 individuals. VTE diagnoses were extracted from the Danish National Hospital Registry. Cumulative incidence curves were constructed for time to first VTE. Incidence rate ratios (IRRs) and impact of low CD4 cell count and HAART were estimated by Cox regression analyses. Analyses were stratified by IDU, adjusted for comorbidity and disaggregated by overall, provoked and unprovoked VTE.

Results

The 5‐year risk of VTE was 8.0% [95% confidence interval (CI) 5.78–10.74%] in IDU HIV‐infected patients, 1.5% (95% CI 1.14–1.95%) in non‐IDU HIV‐infected patients and 0.3% (95% CI 0.29–0.41%) in the population comparison cohort. In non‐IDU HIV‐infected patients, adjusted IRRs for unprovoked and provoked VTE were 3.42 (95% CI 2.58–4.54) and 5.51 (95% CI 3.29–9.23), respectively, compared with the population comparison cohort. In IDU HIV‐infected patients, the adjusted IRRs were 12.66 (95% CI 6.03–26.59) for unprovoked VTE and 9.38 (95% CI 1.61–54.50) for provoked VTE. Low CD4 cell count had a minor impact on these risk estimates, while HAART increased the overall risk (IRR 1.93; 95% CI 1.00–3.72).

Conclusion

HIV‐infected patients are at increased risk of VTE, especially in the IDU population. HAART and possibly low CD4 cell count further increase the risk.     

The Danish 1905 cohort: a genetic-epidemiological nationwide survey

OBJECTIVES. The authors studied nonagenarians, a rapidly growing age group whose cognitive and physical abilities have yet to be investigated systematically. METHODS. All Danes born in 1905 were invited to participate in a home-based 2-hour multidimensional interview, including cognitive and physical performance tests and collection of DNA, carried out by lay interviewers. Population-based registers were used to evaluate representativeness. RESULTS. There were 2,262 participants. A total of 1,632 (72%) gave a DNA sample. Participants and nonparticipants were highly comparable with regard to marital status, institutionalization, and hospitalization patterns, but men and rural area residents were more likely to participate. Six months after the survey began, 7.2% of the participants and 11.8% of the nonparticipants had died. DISCUSSION. Despite the known difficulties of conducting surveys among the extremely old, it was possible to conduct a nationwide survey, including collection of DNA, among more than 2,000 fairly nonselected nonagenarians using lay interviewers.     

Factors associated with late diagnosis of HIV infection and missed opportunities for earlier testing*

Late diagnosis (LD) of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection continues to be a significant problem that increases disease burden both for patients and for the public health system. Guidelines have been updated in order to facilitate earlier HIV diagnosis, introducing “indicator condition-guided HIV testing”. In this study, we analysed the frequency of LD and associated risk factors. We retrospectively identified those cases that could be considered missed opportunities for an earlier diagnosis. All patients newly diagnosed with HIV infection who attended Hospital La Princesa, Madrid (Spain) between 2007 and 2014 were analysed. We collected epidemiological, clinical and immunological data. We also reviewed electronic medical records from the year before the HIV diagnosis to search for medical consultations due to clinical indicators. HIV infection was diagnosed in 354 patients. The median CD4 count at presentation was 352 cells/mm³. Overall, 158 patients (50%) met the definition of LD, and 97 (30.7%) the diagnosis of advanced disease. LD was associated with older age and was more frequent amongst immigrants. Heterosexual relations and injection drug use were more likely to be the reasons for LD than relations between men who have sex with men. During the year preceding the diagnosis, 46.6% of the patients had sought medical advice owing to the presence of clinical indicators that should have led to HIV testing. Of those, 24 cases (14.5%) were classified as missed opportunities for earlier HIV diagnosis because testing was not performed. According to these results, all health workers should pursue early HIV diagnosis through the proper implementation of HIV testing guidelines. Such an approach would prove directly beneficial to the patient and indirectly beneficial to the general population through the reduction in the risk of transmission.     

Comorbidity and survival of Danish cirrhosis patients: a nationwide population-based cohort study

Patients with liver cirrhosis have a high mortality, not just from cirrhosis-related causes, but also from other causes. This observation indicates that many patients with cirrhosis have other chronic diseases, yet the prognostic impact of comorbidities has not been examined. Using data from a nationwide Danish population-based hospital registry, we identified patients who were diagnosed with cirrhosis between 1995 and 2006 and computed their burden of comorbidity using the Charlson comorbidity index. We compared survival between comorbidity groups, adjusting for alcoholism, sex, age, and calendar period. We also examined the risks of cirrhosis-related and non-cirrhosis-related death using data from death certificates and identified a matched comparison cohort without cirrhosis from the Danish population. We included 14,976 cirrhosis patients, 38% of whom had one or more comorbidities. The overall 1-year survival probability was 65.5%; the 10-year survival probability was 21.5%. Compared with patients with a Charlson comorbidity index of 0, the mortality rate was increased 1.17-fold in patients with an index of 1 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.11-1.23], 1.51-fold in patients with an index of 2 (95% CI, 1.42-1.62), and two-fold in patients with an index of 3 or higher (95% CI, 1.85-2.15). In the first year of follow-up, but not later, comorbidity increased the risk of cirrhosis-related death, and this was consistent with an apparent synergy between the cirrhosis and comorbidity effects on mortality in the same period. CONCLUSION: Our findings demonstrate that comorbidity is an important prognostic factor for patients with cirrhosis. Successful treatment of comorbid diseases in the first year after diagnosis may substantially reduce the mortality rate.     

Candida infection and cancer risk: A Danish nationwide cohort study

BackgroundCandida species infection may be associated with increased cancer risk.MethodsWe linked data from the nationwide medical registries and examined the incidence of various cancers in patients with a first-time hospital presentation with candida infection. We computed the cumulative incidence of cancer and standardized incidence ratios (SIRs) of cancer overall, immune-related cancers, and specific cancer types by comparing observed versus expected incidences based on age-, sex-, and anatomical site-specific incidence rates.ResultsAmong 21,247 candida-infected patients, we identified 1534 cancers during a combined follow-up of 187,993 years (standardized incidence ratio (SIR) = 1.6 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.5–1.7)). The 1- and 10-year risks of cancer were 2.6%, and 8.3%, respectively. In the first year after a candida diagnosis, the SIR for cancer was 3.7 (95% CI: 3.4–4.0). In the second and subsequent years of follow-up, the SIRs were 1.2 (95% CI: 1.1–1.3) for any cancer and 1.4 (95% CI 1.2–1.7) for immune-related cancers. The risk of mouth and throat cancers remained more than 3-fold increased in the second and subsequent years of follow-up.ConclusionsHospital presentation with candida infection is associated with increased short- and long-term cancer risk.     

Birth outcomes of women with ulcerative colitis: a nationwide Danish cohort study

OBJECTIVE: Our study aimed to compare the birth outcomes in offspring of women with ulcerative colitis with controls without the disease. METHODS: A cohort study of 1531 newborns to mothers with ulcerative colitis, and 9092 controls, based on linkage between the Danish National Registry of Patients and the Danish Birth Registry from 1982 to 1992. RESULTS: Among the births to women with ulcerative colitis, 569 took place before and 962 after the first hospitalization for ulcerative colitis. We found no increased risk of either low birth weight or intrauterine growth retardation for newborns born before or after the mothers' first hospitalization. The risk of preterm birth was increased when birth occurred after the mothers' first hospitalization (odds ratio = 1.4, 95% confidence interval = 1.1-1.9), and particularly when the first hospitalization for ulcerative colitis took place during pregnancy (odds ratio = 3.4, 95% confidence interval = 1.8-6.4). CONCLUSIONS: In the offspring of women with ulcerative colitis, we found no increased risk of low birth weight or signs of intrauterine growth retardation. The risk of preterm birth was increased in the offspring of women with ulcerative colitis, particularly when the first hospitalization for ulcerative colitis occurred during pregnancy.     

Refugees and family-reunified immigrants have a high incidence of HIV diagnosis and late presentation compared with Danish born: a nationwide register-based cohort study

Purpose

Migrants represent a considerable proportion of HIV diagnoses in Europe and are considered a group at risk of late presentation. This study examined the incidence of HIV diagnoses and the risk of late presentation according to migrant status, ethnic origin and duration of residence.

Methods

We conducted a historically prospective cohort study comprising all adult migrants to Denmark between 1.1.1993 and 31.12.2010 (n?=?114.282), matched 1:6 to Danish born by age and sex. HIV diagnoses were retrieved from the National Surveillance Register and differences in incidence were assessed by Cox regression model. Differences in late presentation were assessed by logistic regression.

Results

Both refugees (HR?=?5.61; 95% CI 4.45–7.07) and family-reunified immigrants (HR?=?10.48; 95% CI 8.88–12.36) had higher incidence of HIV diagnoses compared with Danish born and the incidence remained high over time of residence for both groups. Migrants from all regions, except Western Asia and North Africa, had higher incidence than Danish born. Late presentation was more common among refugees (OR?=?1.87; 95% CI 1.07–3.26) and family-reunified immigrants (OR?=?2.30; 95% CI 1.49–3.55) compared with Danish born. Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa were the only regions with a higher risk of late presentation. Late presentation was only higher for refugees within 1 year of residence, whereas it remained higher within 10 years of residence for family-reunified immigrants.

Conclusions

This register-based study revealed a higher incidence of HIV diagnoses and late presentation among migrants compared with Danish born and the incidence remained surprisingly high over time.

     

Survival in Danish patients with breast cancer and inflammatory bowel disease: a nationwide cohort study

BACKGROUND: Incidences of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and of breast cancer have increased over the last decades. The influence of IBD on breast cancer prognosis, however, is unknown. We therefore examined the impact of IBD on treatment receipt and survival in breast cancer patients. METHODS: Information on breast cancer patients (stage and treatment) diagnosed between 1980 and 2004 was sourced from the Danish Cancer Registry. Data on IBD and potential confounders were extracted from the Danish National Registry of Patients covering all Danish hospitals. Cox regression was used to compute mortality rate ratios (MRRs) among breast cancer patients with IBD, compared to their non-IBD counterparts, adjusting for age, stage, comorbidity measured by the Charlson Index, and calendar year. RESULTS: We identified 71,148 breast cancer cases; 67 also had Crohn's disease (CD) and 216 had ulcerative colitis (UC). Patients with CD had more advanced stage and received radiotherapy less, and chemotherapy more, frequently than patients without IBD. In the adjusted analyses there was no substantial survival difference in breast cancer patients with and without IBD (MRR(CD) = 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.85-1.75; MRR(UC) = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.86-1.38). In a stratified analysis, chemotherapy was associated with poorer survival in patients with CD (MRR(CD) = 1.93; 95% CI = 1.00-3.72). CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer patients with UC receive the same treatment and have similar survival to breast cancer without IBD. In contrast, breast cancer patients with CD are treated with radiotherapy less often. Survival of breast cancer in patients with CD treated with chemotherapy is poorer compared to survival in patients without IBD.