Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System for Dads: A piloted randomized trial of public health surveillance of recent fathers' behaviors before and after infant birth.

BACKGROUND: Becoming a father impacts men's health and wellbeing, while also contributing to the health and wellbeing of mothers and children. There is no large-scale, public health surveillance system aimed at understanding the health and behaviors of men transitioning into fatherhood. The purpose of this study was to describe piloted randomized approaches of a state-based surveillance system examining paternal behaviors before and after their infant's birth to better understand the health needs of men and their families during the transition to parenthood. METHODS: During October 2018-July 2019, 857 fathers in Georgia were sampled 2-6 months after their infant's birth from birth certificates files and surveyed via mail, online or telephone, in English or Spanish, using two randomized approaches: Indirect-to-Dads and Direct-to-Dads. Survey topics included mental and physical health, healthcare, substance use, and contraceptive use. FINDINGS: Weighted response rates (Indirect-to-Dads, 33%; Direct-to-Dads, 31%) and population demographics did not differ by approach. Respondents completed the survey by mail (58%), online (28%) or telephone (14%). Among 266 fathers completing the survey, 55% had a primary care physician, and 49% attended a healthcare visit for themselves during their infant's mother's pregnancy or since their infant's birth. Most fathers were overweight or had obesity (70%) while fewer reported smoking cigarettes (19%), binge drinking (13%) or depressive symptoms (10%) since their infant's birth. CONCLUSIONS: This study tests a novel approach for obtaining population-based estimates of fathers' perinatal health behaviors, with comparable response rates from two pragmatic approaches. The pilot study results quantify a number of public health needs related to fathers' health and healthcare access.

Neural Tube Defects in Pregnancies Among Women With Diagnosed HIV Infection - 15 Jurisdictions, 2013-2017.

In May 2018, a study of birth defects in infants born to women with diagnosed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in Botswana reported an eightfold increased risk for neural tube defects (NTDs) among births with periconceptional exposure to antiretroviral therapy (ART) that included the integrase inhibitor dolutegravir (DTG) compared with other ART regimens (1). The World Health Organization* (WHO) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services† (HHS) promptly issued interim guidance limiting the initiation of DTG during early pregnancy and in women of childbearing age with HIV who desire pregnancy or are sexually active and not using effective contraception. On the basis of additional data, WHO now recommends DTG as a preferred treatment option for all populations, including women of childbearing age and pregnant women. Similarly, the U.S. recommendations currently state that DTG is a preferred antiretroviral drug throughout pregnancy (with provider-patient counseling) and as an alternative antiretroviral drug in women who are trying to conceive.§ Since 1981 and 1994, CDC has supported separate surveillance programs for HIV/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) (2) and birth defects (3) in state health departments. These two surveillance programs can inform public health programs and policy, linkage to care, and research activities. Because birth defects surveillance programs do not collect HIV status, and HIV surveillance programs do not routinely collect data on occurrence of birth defects, the related data have not been used by CDC to characterize birth defects in births to women with HIV. Data from these two programs were linked to estimate overall prevalence of NTDs and prevalence of NTDs in HIV-exposed pregnancies during 2013-2017 for 15 participating jurisdictions. Prevalence of NTDs in pregnancies among women with diagnosed HIV infection was 7.0 per 10,000 live births, similar to that among the general population in these 15 jurisdictions, and the U.S. estimate based on data from 24 states. Successful linking of data from birth defects and HIV/AIDS surveillance programs for pregnancies among women with diagnosed HIV infection suggests that similar data linkages might be used to characterize possible associations between maternal diseases or maternal use of medications, such as integrase strand transfer inhibitors used to manage HIV, and pregnancy outcomes. Although no difference in NTD prevalence in HIV-exposed pregnancies was found, data on the use of integrase strand transfer inhibitors in pregnancy are needed to understand the safety and risks of these drugs during pregnancy.

Treatment Adherence Among Persons Receiving Concurrent Multidrug-Resistant Tuberculosis and HIV Treatment in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

BACKGROUND: Success in multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and HIV treatment requires high medication adherence despite high pill burdens, frequent adverse events, and long treatment duration, which may jeopardize adherence. We prospectively compared MDR-TB/HIV-coinfected persons to those with MDR-TB alone to determine the impact of concurrent treatment on adherence and outcomes. METHODS: We assessed medication adherence monthly using 3-day recall, 30-day recall, and visual analog scale and examined adherence to monthly study visits (months 0-12). We determined the proportion of participants fully adherent (no reported missed doses) to MDR-TB vs. HIV treatment by each measure. We assessed the association of medication and clinic visit adherence with MDR-TB treatment success (cure or completion, 18-24 months) and HIV virologic suppression. RESULTS: Among 200 patients with MDR-TB, 63% were women, median age was 33 years, 144 (72%) were HIV-infected, and 81% were receiving antiretroviral therapy (ART) at baseline. Adherence to medications (81%-98% fully adherent across all measures) and clinic visits (80% missed ≤1 visit) was high, irrespective of HIV status. Adherence to ART was significantly higher than to MDR-TB treatment by all self-reported measures (3-day recall: 92% vs. 84%, respectively; P = 0.003). In multivariable analysis, the adjusted risk ratio of unsuccessful MDR-TB treatment increased with every missed visit: 1.50, 2.25, and 3.37 for unsuccessful treatment, for 1, 2, and ≥3 missed visits. CONCLUSIONS: Adherence to ART was higher than to MDR-TB treatment among persons with MDR-TB/HIV coinfection. Missed clinic visits may be a simple measure for identifying patients at risk of unsuccessful MDR-TB treatment outcome.