Hacsi Horvath

University of California, San Francisco | UCSF · Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics

Background: Researchers and organizations often use evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the efficacy of a treatment or intervention under ideal conditions. Studies of observational designs are often used to measure the effectiveness of an intervention in 'real world' scenarios. Numerous study designs and modifications of...

Objectives: The objective of this review was to update evidence on when to initiate antiretroviral therapy (ART) to inform revision of the 2013 WHO guidelines for ART in low and middle-income countries. Design: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods: We comprehensively searchescohorts. Outcomes were mortality, clinical progression, vir...

Antiretroviral drugs can prevent transmission of HIV from an infected sexual partner to an uninfected one, by suppressing viral replication. We found one randomised controlled trial and nine observational studies that examined this question. Overall we found that in couples in which the infected partner was being treated with antiretroviral drugs t...

We conducted a narrative review of policies, programs and practices relevant to couples HIV testing and counseling (CHTC) and partner testing in the 21 Elimination of Mother-to-Child HIV Transmission (EMTCT) priority countries of sub-Saharan Africa , plus Rwanda. In the 22 countries, national HIV testing and counseling (HTC) guidance published subs...

More than 34 million people are presently living with HIV infection. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) can help these people to live longer, healthier lives, but adherence to ART can be difficult. Mobile phone text-messaging has the potential to help promote adherence in these patients. To determine whether mobile phone text-messaging is efficacious in...

Background: Hepatitis B vaccination is recommended for persons with current or past sexually transmitted infections (STI). Our aim is to systematically assess the association of hepatitis B virus (HBV) sero-markers for current or past infection with syphilis, chlamydia, gonorrhoea, or unspecified STIs. Methods: We conducted a systematic review a...

HIV-infected individuals “aware” of their infection are more likely to use condoms, compared to HIV-infected “unaware” persons. To quantify this likelihood, we undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis of U.S. and Canadian studies. Twenty-one eligible studies included men who have sex with men (MSM; k = 15), persons who inject drugs (PWID; k...

The current field of transgender medicine is like a reckless, “Wild West” free-for-all in which activist clinicians run small, terribly biased observational studies and then “spin” narratives that seem to “confirm” benefit. Based on these studies, other researchers go through the motions of conducting systematic reviews and developing evidence-base...

Background: An estimated 166,155 individuals in the United States have undiagnosed HIV infection. We modeled the numbers of HIV-infected individuals who could be diagnosed in clinical and community settings by broadly implementing HIV screening guidelines. Setting: United States. Methods: We modeled testing for general population (once lifetim...

Please see updated/expanded/enhanced version, "Activist-driven transgender research methods are reckless and will lead to harms" (July 2020). It is linked from my profile here on ResearchGate.

Objectives To determine whether supportive interventions can increase retention in care for patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART) in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Design Systematic review and meta-analysis. Methods We used Cochrane Collaboration methods. We included randomised controlled trials (RCT) and observational studies with c...

Core PubMed search strategy. Modified and adapted as needed for use in the other databases. (PDF)

Risk of bias summary. (DOCX)

Brief summaries of the GRADE evidence quality. (DOCX)

Background: There is often a discordance between health research evidence and public health policies implemented by the United States federal government. In the process of developing health policy, discordance can arise through subjective and objective factors that are unrelated to the value of the evidence itself, and can inhibit the use of resea...

Background Contact investigation is an important strategy for maintaining control of tuberculosis (TB) in the United States. However, testing and treatment outcomes specifically to foreign-born populations are poorly understood. We reviewed literature on testing and LTBI identified during contact investigations in foreign-born populations living in...

Articles screened at the full-text level. (DOCX)

Data extraction sheet. (CSV)

Database search strategies. (DOCX)

Proportion and 95% confidence interval for TB testing and treatment cascade. (DOCX)

Background: Homelessness increases the risk of tuberculosis (TB) disease and latent TB infection (LTBI), but persons experiencing homelessness often lack access to testing and treatment. We assessed the yield of TB testing and linkage to care for programs targeting homeless populations in the United States. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive...

School-based programs have been a mainstay of youth pregnancy prevention efforts in the USA. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess their effectiveness. Eligible studies evaluated the effect on pregnancy rates of programs delivered in elementary, middle, or high schools in the USA and Canada, published between January 1985 and...

Background Darunavir is a second-generation protease-inhibitor used with ritonavir (DRV/r) and two nucleoside reverse-transcriptase inhibitors as an option in first-line antiretroviral treatment (ART). Methods We systematically reviewed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of DRV/r versus other regimens in patients initiating ART. We searched five...

Background Preterm birth (PTB) is the leading cause of death in children under age five. Healthcare policy and other decision-making relevant to PTB may rely on obsolete, incomplete or inapplicable research evidence, leading to worsened outcomes. Appropriate knowledge transfer and exchange (KTE) strategies are an important component of efforts to r...

We systematically reviewed the literature to assess the effectiveness of school-based programs to prevent HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STI) among adolescents in the USA. We searched six databases including PubMed for studies published through May 2017. Eligible studies included youth ages 10–19 years and assessed any school-based...

Objective: To synthesize outputs and outcomes of community-based tuberculosis targeted testing and treatment (TTT) programs in foreign-born populations (FBP) in the United States (US). Methods: We systematically searched five bibliographic databases and other key resources. Two reviewers independently applied eligibility criteria to screen citat...

Migrant farmworker subanalysis. (PDF)

Systematic review protocol. (PDF)

Database search strategies. (PDF)

Expanded extracted data. (XLSX)

Articles screened at full text level. (PDF)

Proportions in matrix format. (PDF)

PRISMA checklist. (PDF)

Background Despite significant public health implications, the extent to which community-based condom distribution interventions (CDI) prevent HIV infection in the United States is not well understood. Methods We systematically reviewed research evidence applying Cochrane Collaboration methods. We used a comprehensive search strategy to search mul...

Core database search strategies. (PDF)

Limited CDI studies. (PDF)

PRISMA checklist. (PDF)

Articles screened at the full text level. (PDF)

GRADE tables. (PDF)

Protocol. (PDF)

Pooled effect measures and risk of bias tables. (PDF)

Background: Chikungunya virus infection (CHIKV) is caused by a mosquito-borne alphavirus. CHIKV causes high fever and painful rheumatic disorders that may persist for years. Because little is known about interventions for treating CHIKV-related illness, we conducted a systematic review. Methods: We used Cochrane methods. We searched PubMed, EMBA...

Introduction Various interventions to prevent mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) of HIV have been investigated and implemented. A number of systematic reviews assessing the efficacy of interventions for the prevention of MTCT of HIV reported antiretroviral prophylaxis, caesarean section before labour and before ruptured membranes, and complete avo...

Supplement 1: PubMed search strategy, modified and adapted as needed for use in the other databases. Supplement 2: Detailed risk of bias assessment. Supplement 3: GRADE evidence profile.

Dolutegravir (DTG) is a once-daily unboosted second-generation integrase-inhibitor that along with two nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors is one of several regimens recommended by the United States, United Kingdom and European Union for first-line antiretroviral treatment of people with HIV infection. Our objective was to review the eviden...

PRISMA reporting checklist. (DOCX)

PubMed search strategy, modified and adapted as needed for use in the other databases. (DOCX)

Detailed risk of bias assessment. (DOCX)

GRADE evidence profile. (DOCX)

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To systematically review the scientific literature and assess the efficacy of interventions for promoting retention in care for people with HIV infection in resource-limited settings who have already begun ART. We will define resource-limited settings as thos...

Preterm birth (PTB) is the world’s leading cause of death in children under 5 years. In 2013, over one million out of six million child deaths were due to complications of PTB. The rate of decline in child death overall has far outpaced the rate of decline attributable to PTB. Three key reasons for this slow progress in reducing PTB mortality are:...

Rapid summary assessment of GRADE evidence quality for important interventions to prevent or mitigate the effects of preterm birth (August 2014)

Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of semen washing in human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) discordant couples in which the male partner is infected. Design: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Setting: All countries. Patient(s): Forty single-arm open-label studies among HIV-discordant couples that underwent intrauterine insemination (IUI)...

In 2012, we conducted systematic reviews for the World Health Organization (WHO) on numerous topics relevant to antiretroviral medicines, treatment as prevention, the continuum of care, prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission, service delivery and operational questions and other topics. We used standard Cochrane Collaboration methods in cond...

In 2011, we conducted systematic reviews for the World Health Organization (WHO) on a range of topics relevant to cryptococcal infection in people with HIV. We used the GRADE methodology to assess evidence quality. Our work informed WHO's 2011 "Rapid advice: diagnosis, prevention and management of cryptococcal disease in HIV-infected adults, adoles...

The United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) emphasizes health systems strengthening as a cornerstone of programmatic success. Health systems strengthening, among other things, includes effective capacity building for clinical care, administrative management and public health practice. Avante Zambézia is a district-level in...

Conducted to inform the World Health Organization's 2015 antiretroviral guidelines

This review fed into WHO's 2015 Consolidated Antiretroviral Guidelines.

To inform WHO's 2015 consolidated antiretroviral guidelines.

Background: An estimated 260,000 children under the age of 15 years acquired HIV infection in 2012. As much as 42% of mother-to-child transmission is related to breastfeeding. Antiretroviral prophylaxis for mothers or infants has the potential to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV through breast milk. Objectives: To determine which anti...

![Graphic][1] Accurate diagnosis, treatment and prevention of HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) should be priorities for health systems around the world. Untreated or undertreated STIs can lead to infertility, cancer, chronic pelvic pain, and facilitate HIV transmission.1 New and existing treatments, tests and prevention strategies t...

Objective: We systematically reviewed the performance of 2010 WHO immunologic and clinical criteria for predicting virologic failure in HIV-infected patients on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Design: Systematic review. Methods: We used Cochrane Collaboration methods. We calculated unweighted sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (...

Background: Current service delivery systems do not reach all people in need of antiretroviral therapy (ART). In order to inform the operational and service delivery section of the WHO 2013 consolidated antiretroviral guidelines, our objective was to summarize systematic reviews on integrating ART delivery into maternal, newborn, and child health...

Adherence is critical for maximizing the effectiveness of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in preventing HIV infection. Strategies for promoting adherence to HIV treatment, and their potential application to PrEP adherence, have received considerable attention. However, adherence promotion strategies for prevention medications have not been well cha...

Background: Yellow fever (YF) is an acute viral haemorrhagic disease prevalent in tropical Africa and Latin America. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are 200,000 cases of YF and 30,000 deaths worldwide annually. Treatment for YF is supportive, but a live attenuated virus vaccine is effective for preventing infection. WHO re...

Research suggests that access to firearms in the home increases the risk for violent death. To understand current estimates of the association between firearm availability and suicide or homicide. PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, and Web of Science were searched without limitations and a gray-literature search was...

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To systematically review the scientific literature and assess the efficacy of interventions for promoting retention in care for people with HIV infection in resource-limited settings who have already begun ART. We will define resource-limited settings as thos...

Systematic reviews conducted to inform WHO's 2013 guidelines on HIV testing and counselling and care for adolescents living with HIV

See also ANNEX 7: Evidence summaries and findings; and ANNEX 9: Review methods. These documents are among my files here on ResearchGate.

See also ANNEX 7: Evidence summaries and findings; and ANNEX 9: Review methods. These documents are among my files here on ResearchGate.

Presentation for oral session

Abstract CLINICAL QUESTION Does treating the HIV-infected partner in a serodiscordant couple reduce the risk of HIV transmission to the uninfected partner? BOTTOM LINE Compared with serodiscordant couples without treatment, couples in which the infected partner is treated with antiretroviral therapy have a lower risk of HIV transmission.