Urine Lipoarabinomannan Testing in Adults With Advanced Human Immunodeficiency Virus in a Trial of Empiric Tuberculosis Therapy

High Performance of Systematic Combined Urine Liboarabinomannan Test and Sputum Xpert MTB/RIF for Tuberculosis Screening in Severely Immunosuppressed Ambulatory Adults With Human Immunodeficiency Virus

BACKGROUND

In people with human immunodeficiency virus (PWH), the World Health Organization-recommended tuberculosis (TB) 4-symptom screen (W4SS) targeting those who need molecular rapid testing may be suboptimal. We assessed the performance of different TB screening approaches in severely immunosuppressed PWH enrolled in the guided-treatment group of the STATIS trial (NCT02057796).

METHODS

Ambulatory PWH with no overt evidence of TB and CD4 count <100 cells/µL were screened for TB prior to antiretroviral therapy (ART) initiation with W4SS, chest radiograph (CXR), urine lipoarabinomannan (LAM) test, and sputum Xpert MTB/RIF (Xpert). Correctly and wrongly identified cases by screening approaches were assessed overall and by CD4 count threshold (≤50 and 51-99 cells/µL).

RESULTS

Of 525 enrolled participants (median CD4 count, 28 cells/µL), 48 (9.9%) were diagnosed with TB at enrollment. Among participants with a negative W4SS, 16% had either a positive Xpert, a CXR suggestive of TB, or a positive urine LAM test. The combination of sputum Xpert and urine LAM test was associated with the highest proportion of participants correctly identified as TB (95.8%) and non-TB cases (95.4%), with proportions equally high among participants with CD4 counts above or below 50 cells/µL. Restricting the use of sputum Xpert, urine LAM test, or CXR to participants with a positive W4SS reduced the proportion of wrongly and correctly identified cases.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a clear benefit to perform both sputum Xpert and urine LAM tests as TB screening in all severely immunosuppressed PWH prior to ART initiation, not only in those with a positive W4SS. Clinical Trials Registration. NCT02057796.

Landscape of TB Infection and Prevention among People Living with HIV

Tuberculosis (TB) is one of the leading causes of mortality in people living with HIV (PLHIV) and contributes to up to a third of deaths in this population. The World Health Organization guidelines aim to target early detection and treatment of TB among PLHIV, particularly in high-prevalence and low-resource settings. Prevention plays a key role in the fight against TB among PLHIV. This review explores TB screening tools available for PLHIV, including symptom-based screening, chest radiography, tuberculin skin tests, interferon gamma release assays, and serum biomarkers. We then review TB Preventive Treatment (TPT), shown to reduce the progression to active TB and mortality among PLHIV, and available TPT regimens. Last, we highlight policy-practice gaps and barriers to implementation as well as ongoing research needs to lower the burden of TB and HIV coinfection through preventive activities, innovative diagnostic tests, and cost-effectiveness studies.

Isoniazid adherence reduces mortality and incident tuberculosis at 96 weeks among adults initiating antiretroviral therapy with advanced HIV in multiple high burden settings

Background

People with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and advanced immunosuppression initiating antiretroviral therapy (ART) remain vulnerable to tuberculosis (TB) and early mortality. To improve early survival, isoniazid preventive therapy (IPT) or empiric TB treatment have been evaluated; however, their benefit on longer-term outcomes warrants investigation.

Methods

We present a 96-week preplanned secondary analysis among 850 ART-naive outpatients (≥13 years) enrolled in a multicountry, randomized trial of efavirenz-containing ART plus either 6-month IPT (n = 426) or empiric 4-drug TB treatment (n = 424). Inclusion criteria were CD4 count <50 cells/mm³ and no confirmed or probable TB. Death and incident TB were compared by strategy arm using the Kaplan-Meier method. The impact of self-reported adherence (calculated as the proportion of 100% adherence) was assessed using Cox-proportional hazards models.

Results

By 96 weeks, 85 deaths and 63 TB events occurred. Kaplan-Meier estimated mortality (10.1% vs 10.5%; P = .86) and time-to-death (P = .77) did not differ by arm. Empiric had higher TB risk (6.1% vs 2.7%; risk difference, −3.4% [95% confidence interval, −6.2% to −0.6%]; P = .02) and shorter time to TB (P = .02) than IPT. Tuberculosis medication adherence lowered the hazards of death by ≥23% (P < .0001) in empiric and ≥20% (P < .035) in IPT and incident TB by ≥17% (P ≤ .0324) only in IPT.

Conclusions

Empiric TB treatment offered no longer-term advantage over IPT in our population with advanced immunosuppression initiating ART. High IPT adherence significantly lowered death and TB incidence through 96 weeks, emphasizing the benefit of ART plus IPT initiation and completion, in persons with advanced HIV living in high TB-burden, resource-limited settings.