Systematic review on the compliance of WHO guidelines in the management of patients with advanced HIV disease in Africa: The case of cryptococcal antigen screening.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommended cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) screening for people presenting with advanced HIV disease (AHD) and for those with positive CrAg without evidence of meningitis to initiate preemptive antifungal medication. Data on the implementation of WHO recommendations regarding CrAg screening is limited. We estimated pooled prevalence of CrAg screening uptake, cryptococcal antigenemia, lumbar puncture, cryptococcal meningitis and initiation of preemptive antifungal medication from available eligible published studies conducted in Africa.

Methods

PubMed, Cochrane Library and Embase were searched for articles published between January 2011 and December 2023. CrAg uptake was defined as percentage of eligible people (CD4 ≤ 200 cells/mm3

SUBMITTER: Ally ZM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11761098 | biostudies-literature | 2025

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature