Postpartum Adherence Clubs for Antiretroviral Therapy (PACART)

May 17, 2022 updated by: Professor Landon Myer, University of Cape Town

Postpartum Adherence Clubs for Antiretroviral Therapy: a Randomised Controlled Trial

South Africa is implementing the policy of universal initiation of lifelong antiretroviral therapy (ART) in all HIV-infected pregnant women regardless of CD4 cell count or disease stage ("Option B+"). There is a recognised need for innovative models of service delivery to support adherence and retention in care in this group, particularly during the postpartum period. The investigators are conducting a pragmatic randomised control trial to compare virological outcomes 24 months postpartum in two models of service delivery for provision of HIV care and treatment services postpartum in women who initiated ART during pregnancy: local adult ART clinics and community-based adherence clubs.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

South Africa is implementing the policy of universal initiation of lifelong ART in all HIV-infected pregnant women regardless of CD4 cell count or disease stage ("Option B+") and given the high antenatal HIV seroprevalence, HIV-infected pregnant women represent the largest group of patients initiating ART in primary care facilities. However, there are few well developed models of service delivery to support implementation. There are particular concerns regarding the postpartum period, with multiple studies indicating high levels of non-retention in care and/or inadequate adherence to treatment postnatally. Adherence Clubs (ACs) are an innovative but untested model of care based on chronic disease management strategies that emphasize social support, adherence to treatment and retention in care, rather than intensive clinical management, as the most important determinant of long-term health outcomes in stable patients in chronic care. ACs have preliminarily been shown to to result in virologic outcomes that are similar to routine clinic services in patients stable on ART. The investigators are conducting a pragmatic, randomised controlled trial to evaluate two different strategies for delivering HIV care and treatment services during the postpartum period to HIV-infected women who initiated ART during pregnancy. Participants will be allocated to receive ART care at either local adult ART clinics, following the current standard of care, or the community-based adherence club system.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
412

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • South Africa
    • Western Cape
      • Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, 7750
        • Gugulethu Community Health Centre

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Documented HIV infection with ART initiation during the preceding antenatal period
  • Within 70 days post-delivery
  • Viral suppression documented in pregnancy with the most recent viral load <400 copies/mL within the last 3 months
  • Willingness to be randomised and return for study measurement visits
  • Able and willing to attend service visits at either a local ART treatment centre or the adherence club at Ikhwezi centre
  • Able to provide informed consent for research

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Intention to relocate out of Cape Town permanently during the study period
  • Any medical, psychiatric or social condition which in the opinion of the investigators would affect the ability to consent and/or participate in the study including: refusal to take ART/antiretrovirals (ARVs) and/or denial of HIV status
  • Loss of pregnancy/neonate at the time of eligibility determination
  • Current co-morbidity requiring additional health care attention, including opportunistic infections such as tuberculosis (TB) disease or any chronic condition or other condition that is not controlled or stable

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
No Intervention: Clinic-based Care
Clinic-based care is the current standard of care and is defined as referral of women on antiretroviral therapy (ART) to general primary care adult ART services.
Experimental: Adherence Club Care
Adherence club care involves referral of women on ART to community-based ART services in the form of adherence clubs, which are led by community health workers and supported by ART clinic nurses.
Other: Adherence Clubs
Women will be referred to the ACs at their postpartum ART clinic visit at the midwife obstetric unit (MOU) at the Gugulethu community health centre (CHC). AC visits occur 2-4 monthly at a community hall near the CHC. At routine visits, which last ~1 hour, community health workers provide health education, weigh participants, ask about symptoms, and dispense pre-packed ART. Symptomatic participants are referred back to the main ART facility at the CHC for assessment by a nurse. A nurse performs routine phlebotomy at an annual club visit, and does a clinical assessment and reviews blood results at the subsequent visit. Participants requiring more regular follow-up and those with raised viral loads are referred back to the ART clinic at the CHC by the nurse.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Viral suppression
Time Frame: 24 months
Time to viral load >1000 copies per ml
24 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Secondary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, a planned outcome measure that is not as important as the primary outcome measure for evaluating the effect of an intervention but is still of interest. Most clinical studies have more than one secondary outcome measure.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Maternal retention in care
Time Frame: 24 months
Missed routinely scheduled clinical care visits (missed visit and no visit within 3 months of scheduled clinic visit)
24 months
Maternal death
Time Frame: 24 months
Maternal deaths over the study period
24 months
Maternal mental health
Time Frame: 24 months
Mental health as assessed via brief screening tools (Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale)
24 months
Maternal health care service use
Time Frame: 24 months
Use of health facilities including hospitalization
24 months
Infant death
Time Frame: 24 months
Infant deaths over the study period
24 months
Infant health care service use
Time Frame: 24 months
Use of health facilities including hospitalization
24 months
Infant HIV testing
Time Frame: 24 months
Uptake of routine infant HIV testing
24 months
Infant HIV infection
Time Frame: 24 months
Mother-to-child transmission of HIV
24 months
Infant feeding
Time Frame: 24 months
Breastfeeding practices
24 months
Cost and cost-effectiveness
Time Frame: 24 months
Cost-effectiveness of each strategy will be analysed from both the patient and health systems perspective
24 months
Acceptability of each ART service
Time Frame: 24 months
Acceptability of each service will be assessed using the patient-provider interview schedule, and qualitative interviews will be done on a subset of participants
24 months
Viral suppression at other cutpoints (>400 copies/mL)
Time Frame: 24 months
Time to VL >400 copies/mL
24 months
Viral suppression at other cutpoints (>50 copies/mL)
Time Frame: 24 months
Time to VL >50 copies/mL
24 months
Virologic Failure
Time Frame: 24 months
Time to clinical definition of virologic failure (two consecutive VLs >1000 copies/mL)
24 months
Combined retention/VL outcome
Time Frame: 24 months
Composite endpoint of retention in care and viral suppression (not retained in care OR retained but VL >50 or 1000 copies/mL)
24 months
Viral suppression at each study visit
Time Frame: 24 months
VL >50 copies/mL or >1000 copies/mL at each study visit (3, 6, 12, 18, 24 months)
24 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
University of Cape Town

Collaborators

Collaborators

An organization other than the sponsor that provides support for a clinical study. This support may include activities related to funding, design, implementation, data analysis, or reporting.
Medical Research Council

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Landon Myer, MBChB PhD, University of Cape Town

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 1, 2016

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
January 1, 2020

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
November 1, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
March 21, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
June 23, 2017

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
June 27, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
May 18, 2022

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
May 17, 2022

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
May 1, 2022

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • 195/2015

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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