Approximately 14% of Africans infected with HIV are over the age of 50, yet few intervention studies focus on improving access to care, retention in care, and adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) in this population. A review of the published literature until 2012, found no relevant ART management and care interventions for older people living with HIV (OPLHIV) in sub-Saharan Africa. The aim of this systematic review is to update the original systematic review of intervention studies on OPLHIV, with a focus on evidence from sub-Saharan Africa.

Angiosarcoma involving the lung can represent either primary or metastatic malignancy. Due to the rarity of this condition, knowledge surrounding the natural history and clinical presentation is scarce. The aim of this scoping review is to summarize the existing literature on pulmonary angiosarcoma, particularly as it pertains to the clinical presentation and ancillary tests used for diagnosis in addition to histopathology.

Dedicated air ambulance services provide a vital link for critically ill and injured patients to higher levels of care. The recent developments of pre-hospital and retrieval medicine create an opportunity for air ambulance providers and policy-makers to utilize a dashboard of quality performance measures to assess service performance. The objective of this scoping systematic review will be to identify and evaluate the range of air ambulance outcome measures reported in the literature and help to construct a quality dashboard based on a healthcare quality framework.

According to the Gambling Commission, in 2018, almost half of the general population aged 16 and over had participated in gambling in the 4 weeks before being surveyed. Such surveys suggest that the proportion of people who are classed as 'problem' gamblers is relatively small; however, this may be related to the ways data are collected and gambling behaviour is classified. Concern about the harms associated with gambling is rising, and in response, Public Health England (PHE) has initiated this review to identify the harms associated with this activity. Harms to the gambler, their close associates and the wider society will all be included.

Socialization is an important part of the healthy aging process, but natural changes in the lifestyle and health of older people increased risk of loneliness. However, loneliness is not well defined and might differ in different cultures and settings. The main objective of this systematic review is to summarize literature on the topic and propose a definition that might help aging research and practice in the future.

Acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) can be effective in treating chronic pain. Despite evidence supporting the effectiveness of ACT, uncertainties remain regarding which subgroups in the chronic pain population are likely to benefit most and least. This protocol describes the application for two meta-analytic approaches, one at the level of individual participant data and the other at the level of aggregated data, from randomized controlled trials of ACT for chronic pain (ACT-CP-MA).

Premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) are one of the most common arrhythmias detected from electrocardiographic (ECG) monitoring. PVCs were thought to cause lethal arrhythmias and thus were closely monitored and treated. However, in current practice, PVCs generally do not required treatment. There is also concern that PVCs contribute to excessive alarms and lead to alarm fatigue. Practice guidelines for in-hospital monitoring state that monitoring for PVCs may be indicated on some patients but do not recommend continuous ECG monitoring. Despite these recommendations, PVC monitoring practices remain part of routine care, especially in the intensive care unit, for worry of missing potentially significant arrhythmia events. A thorough scoping review of the literature regarding the clinical significance of PVC is imperative, precisely to map out the evidence on the diagnostic and prognostic values of PVCs and to identify research gaps on this issue.

The importance of access to healthcare for all is internationally recognised as a global goal, high on the global agenda. Yet inequalities in health exist within and between countries which are exacerbated by inequalities in access to healthcare. In order to address these inequalities, we need to better understand what drives them. While there exists a wealth of research on access to healthcare in different countries and contexts, and for different patient groups, to date no attempt has been made to bring this evidence together through a global lens. This study aims to address that gap by bringing together evidence of what factors affect patients' access to healthcare and exploring how those factors vary in different countries and contexts around the world.

The health impacts of loneliness and social isolation among older adults are widely acknowledged. Despite this, there is no consensus on the possible causal nature of this relationship, which could undermine effectiveness of interventions. One body of thought is that loneliness and social isolation affect health-related behaviours to indirectly damage health. However, there has not been any systematic assessment of the association between loneliness and social isolation and health-related behaviours which considers the possible impact from confounding factors and the causal direction of this association.

Consuming whey protein supplements, along with physiotherapy and psychotherapy, have been recognised in sports performance. Whey protein supplements (WPS) is one of the commonly used supplements as ergogenic aids for athletes to enhance their muscle performance and recovery during sport-related injuries. The purpose of this systematic review is to investigate the effectiveness of WPS over the blood biochemistry mainly amino acids, creatinine kinase and myoglobin which influence performance and recovery among athletes.

Older adults spend up to 23 h daily sitting or lying while in hospital. Sedentary behaviour (SB) within a hospital setting is often associated with poor health outcomes including physical and cognitive decline, reduced quality of life and death as well as hospital readmissions. Conversely, replacing SB with mild to moderate levels of physical activity such as walking can significantly reduce hospital readmission risk by 30 days. Given the potentially harmful effects of SB in hospitalised older adults, it is vital to identify current literature by broadly exploring different aspects of SB among older people in hospital. The overall aim of this scoping review is to produce a literature map of current evidence on key domains of sedentary behaviour in hospitalised older people.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common and important disease. There are different tests for diagnosis, one of which is computed tomographic colonography (CTC). No test is perfect, and patients with normal CTC may subsequently develop CRC (either because it was overlooked originally, or because it has developed in the interim). This is termed post-investigation colorectal cancer (PICRC) or "interval cancer". How frequently this occurs after CTC is not known. The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to use the primary literature to estimate the PICRC rate after CTC, and explore associated factors.

What is known about checklists for interpreting chest radiographs? The question will guide the development of the inclusion criteria for the scoping review. Breaking down the scoping review question will allow the evaluation of inclusion and exclusion criteria for the protocol. The eligibility of the proposed research question will be assessed using the Population or Participants, Concept and Context (PCC) framework.

Early pregnancy loss (unintended pregnancy loss before 20 completed weeks of gestation) is a common adverse pregnancy outcome, with previous evidence reporting incidence ranging from 10 to 30% of detected pregnancies. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to determine the incidence and range of early pregnancy loss in contemporary pregnant populations based on studies with good internal and external validity. Findings may be useful for clinical counseling in pre-conception and family planning settings and for people who experience early pregnancy loss.

To date there is no consensus about the optimal strategy for keeping clinical guidelines (CGs) up-to-date. The aims of this study were (1) to develop a continuous surveillance and updating strategy for CGs and (2) to test the strategy in a specific CG.

Culture influences nurses' attitudes towards caring for older adults. Additionally, nursing students' perceptions and attitudes towards older adults affect their behavior, possibly their career choices and/or the quality of care provided to older adults after graduation. In the context of lower-middle-income countries with a faster growing older adults population compared to upper income countries, the improvement of the quality care, inclusive of nurses' attitudes towards older adults, is one of the strategies for strengthening nursing and midwifery in Africa. Furthermore, examining nurses and nursing students' attitudes towards older adults will answer the United Nations' call for more data to understand the needs and the status of older adults in Africa.

Randomized controlled trials are the sine qua non of causal inference; however, heterogeneity of treatment effects for many chronic conditions and for many symptoms often limits their utility. Single-patient studies in which patients select a treatment after trying a randomized sequence of treatments (i.e., multiple crossover trials) offer an alternative to traditional randomized controlled trials by providing scientifically valid results in a practical manner that can be used by patients and their providers to decide upon their personally optimal treatment. Although N-of-1 trials have been used in the medical literature, their use for interventions that consist of psychological or health behavior outcomes is unknown. This systematic review thus aims to describe the interventions and outcomes and assess the quality of N-of-1 trials for psychological or health behavior outcomes.

Serotonin (5-HT3) receptor antagonists are a class of antiemetic medications often used to prevent nausea and vomiting among patients undergoing chemotherapy, radiotherapy or surgery. However, recent studies suggest that these agents might be associated with increased cardiac harm. To examine this further, we are proposing to conduct a systematic review and network meta-analysis on the comparative safety of 5-HT3 receptor antagonists among patients undergoing chemotherapy or surgery.

Equine-assisted treatments of the motor system appear to have an effect on the neuromuscular system and aim to improve the pathological condition of children with cerebral palsy. Hippotherapy is a distinct form of equine-assisted therapy where certified physiotherapists use the horse as a dynamic tool in a medical treatment setting. The objective of the proposed review is to summarize and critically appraise the evidence on the effect of equine-assisted treatments on motor capabilities of children with cerebral palsy.

Investing in women's health is an inevitable investment in our future. We systematically reviewed the available evidence and summarized the weighted prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and pre-diabetes mellitus (pre-DM) in women of childbearing age (15-49 years) in the Middle East and North African (MENA) region.