Co-Trimoxazole Prophylaxis, Asymptomatic Malaria Parasitemia, and Infectious Morbidity in HIV-Exposed Uninfected Infants in Malawi: The BAN Study

Citation

Davis, Nicole L.; Wiener, Jeffrey B.; Juliano, Jonathan J.; Adair, Linda S.; Chasela, Charles S.; Kayira, Dumbani; Hudgens, Michael G.; van der Horst, Charles M.; Jamieson, Denise J.; & Kourtis, Athena P., and the BAN Study Team (2017). Co-Trimoxazole Prophylaxis, Asymptomatic Malaria Parasitemia, and Infectious Morbidity in HIV-Exposed Uninfected Infants in Malawi: The BAN Study. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 65(4), 575-580. PMCID: PMC5850033

Abstract

Background: HIV-exposed infants are disproportionately at risk of morbidity and mortality compared with their HIV-unexposed counterparts. The role of co-trimoxazole preventive therapy (CPT) in reducing leading causes of infectious morbidity is unclear.
Methods: We used data from the Breastfeeding, Antiretrovirals and Nutrition (BAN) clinical trial (conducted 2004-2010, Malawi) to assess the association of 1) CPT and 2) asymptomatic malaria parasitemia with respiratory and diarrheal morbidity in infants. In June 2006, all HIV-exposed infants in BAN began receiving CPT (240 mg) from 6-36 weeks of age, or until weaning occurred and HIV infection was ruled out. All HIV-exposed, uninfected infants (HEI) at 8 weeks of age (n=1984) were included when CPT was the exposure. A subset of HEI (n=471) were tested for malarial parasitemia using dried blood spots from 12, 24, and 36 weeks of age. Cox proportional hazards models for recurrent gap-time data were used to examine the association of time-varying exposures on morbidity.
Results: CPT was associated with a 36% reduction in respiratory morbidity (hazard ratio (HR) 0.64, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.60-0.69) and a 41% reduction in diarrheal morbidity (HR 0.59, 95% CI 0.54-0.65). Having asymptomatic malaria parasitemia was associated with a 40% increase in respiratory morbidity (HR 1.40, 95% CI 1.13-1.74) and a 50% increase in diarrheal morbidity (HR 1.50, 95% CI 1.09-2.06), after adjusting for CPT.
Conclusion: CPT may have an important role to play in reducing the leading global causes of morbidity and mortality in the growing population of HEIs in malaria-endemic resource-limited settings.

URL

http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/cid/cix367.

Reference Type

Journal Article

Year Published

2017

Journal Title

Clinical Infectious Diseases

Author(s)

Davis, Nicole L.
Wiener, Jeffrey B.
Juliano, Jonathan J.
Adair, Linda S.
Chasela, Charles S.
Kayira, Dumbani
Hudgens, Michael G.
van der Horst, Charles M.
Jamieson, Denise J.
Kourtis, Athena P., and the BAN Study Team

PMCID

PMC5850033

ORCiD

Adair - 0000-0002-3670-8073