- HIV diagnosis and treatment status in individuals dying from HIV in Zimbabwe, Malawi, and South Africa: A model comparison analysis. [Journal Article]PLoS Med. 2026 Sep; 23(9):e1004864.PM
- CONCLUSIONS: Absolute numbers of HIV-related deaths vary substantially between models, highlighting wider issues around ascertainment of death in the region. However, our results do consistently show that most deaths are occurring amongst PWH on ART in Zimbabwe and Malawi, and amongst those who have interrupted treatment in South Africa, suggesting interventions around adherence counselling and retention in care need to be prioritised.
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- Country- and individual-level factors associated with healthy working life expectancy: A multinational longitudinal study. [Multicenter Study]PLoS Med. 2026 Sep; 23(9):e1004676.PM
- CONCLUSIONS: In this multinational cohort, the findings revealed the associations of individual- and country-level factors with healthy working lives, underscoring the necessity for measures aimed at extending healthy working lives to align with country-specific social, economic and employment contexts. Besides, interventions targeting individual modifiable risk factors should be warranted through life-course.
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- Multimodal protective and susceptibility clusters in paediatric atopic dermatitis: A machine learning-based, data-driven observational study. [Journal Article]PLoS Med. 2026 Sep; 23(9):e1004917.PM
- CONCLUSIONS: Complementary ML approaches enabled explainable analysis of a complex multimodal dataset. Integrated analyses identified a multimodal protective cluster comprising environmental, cytokine, and transcriptomic features, together with two AD susceptibility clusters, one dominated by transcriptomic features and the other by correlated cytokine and antibody levels. These findings improve our understanding of the factors associated with AD. Furthermore, the feature-selection and integration workflow provides a framework for analysing complex multimodal datasets in future biomedical research.
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- Effect of a digitally augmented general health promotion intervention on abstinence from health-risk behaviors among emergency department discharge patients: A randomized controlled trial. [Journal Article]PLoS Med. 2026 Sep 08; 23(9):e1004916. [Online ahead of print]PM
- CONCLUSIONS: A digitally augmented, theory-based general health promotion strategy delivered at ED discharge through brief telephone intervention and mobile instant messaging support demonstrated short-term benefits in promoting self-reported abstinence and reducing health-risk behaviors at 6 months. However, the absence of a sustained effect at 12 months suggests that extended support or maintenance strategies may be required to maintain these improvements over time. Multicenter trials with longer follow-up are warranted to evaluate long-term effectiveness.
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- The widening medication adherence gap. [Journal Article]
- The gap between medication efficacy in trials and real-world effectiveness is widening, and with it the opportunity cost of medication nonadherence. Closing this gap requires more than individual behavior change; it requires system-level solutions, including coverage and funding design, pharmacist-led programs, and health information technology.
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- Association between nirsevimab coverage and pediatric emergency department visits for bronchiolitis in 12 European countries: An interrupted time-series analysis. [Journal Article]PLoS Med. 2026 Sep 03; 23(9):e1005223. [Online ahead of print]PM
- CONCLUSIONS: This multinational interrupted time-series analysis identified coverage as a key factor associated to bronchiolitis reduction across age-groups and European regions. Implementation choices across Europe likely influenced coverage, highlighting that nirsevimab benefits depend not only on its intrinsic efficacy, but also on how effectively it is delivered.
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- Overall and serotype-specific dengue virus transmission intensity in Mexico, 2016-2023: A modelling study of case-notification data. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: This work quantifies serotype-specific differences in DENV transmission intensity using routinely collected case-notification data and demonstrates how extensive RT-PCR testing and new rapid diagnostic tests capable of discerning infecting serotypes can help to better understand the contributions of different serotypes to DENV transmission. The methods developed in this study contribute to the development of a better understanding of the past and current burden of dengue infection, which can help to refine assessments of the potential impact of existing and new interventions in future analyses.
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- Neutralising antibodies and protection from progression to severe COVID-19: A meta-analysis. [Meta-Analysis]
- CONCLUSIONS: Together, this work suggests that vaccine-induced neutralising antibodies are correlated with protection from progression to severe COVID-19 and can account for at least a partial mechanistic role in this protection. However, a protection gap remains between the high levels of protection against progressing to severe COVID-19 afforded by vaccination, compared to that afforded by therapeutic administration of antibodies, suggesting other immune responses may also play a role.
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- Effect of a person-centered care intervention on return and sustained reengagement after treatment interruptions from HIV care in Zambia: A post-hoc analysis of a stepped-wedged cluster randomized trial. [Randomized Controlled Trial]
- CONCLUSIONS: The PCC intervention likely improved rates of return to care after TIs, sustained reengagement after return, and overall retention among individuals with TIs. Strategies targeting caring aspects of HCW behavior and client experience may help lower barriers to and address persistent challenges with reengagement in care.
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- Evaluation of the FI-Lab, a laboratory-based, automated frailty index for acute care: A multicohort study. [Journal Article]PLoS Med. 2026 Sep 01; 23(9):e1005004. [Online ahead of print]PM
- CONCLUSIONS: The FI-Lab provides an automated, scalable measure of patient vulnerability that is robust across healthcare settings and populations. A core set of 20-40 commonly ordered tests is sufficient for signal capture. It offers a pragmatic complement to clinical judgement without requiring manual data entry or additional tests.
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- Maternal body mass index in early pregnancy and offspring mortality up to early adulthood: A nationwide cohort study. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: Offspring born to mothers with overweight or obesity during early pregnancy had an increased risk of premature mortality up to early adulthood. Given the rising obesity rate in women of childbearing age, our findings underscore the need to better understand the underlying mechanisms for this association. If confirmed by further studies, these results highlight the importance of achieving a healthy maternal BMI prior to conception as a potential strategy to improve child health.
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- Human papillomavirus infection and risk of cardiovascular disease: A population-based matched cohort study with sibling analysis. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: HPV infection was associated with increased risk of incident CVD and CVD-related mortality. The findings suggested that clinicians should be aware of a slightly elevated CVD risk in women with HPV, especially during the first year following an infection. However, given the small absolute difference, women should not be unduly concerned.
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- Antimicrobial stewardship in low- and middle-income countries: Access versus adherence. [Comment]
- Can improving access to antimicrobial guidelines improve prescriber adherence? In a recent study published in PLOS Medicine (the LAMPA trial), a smartphone app did not improve adherence despite enhanced access to guidelines, highlighting that prescriber behavior is complex, and effective antimicrobial stewardship interventions need to be multifaceted and sustained.
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- Adherence to smartphone-delivered antimicrobial prescribing guidelines in hospitals in Lao PDR: A stepped-wedge cluster randomized controlled trial. [Randomized Controlled Trial]
- CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that smartphone technology can deliver antimicrobial prescribing guidelines in an LMIC like Laos. However, the trial did not demonstrate the pre-specified improvement in guidelines adherence with the smartphone app and AMS training compared with paper-based guidelines. While treatment guidelines underpin antimicrobial stewardship efforts, adherence depends on multiple factors beyond guideline availability. The trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov (NCT04914793).
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- A clinical decision support tool for accurate hip fracture prediction: A nationwide cohort study. [Journal Article]
- CONCLUSIONS: FRACTURE-ML was effective in predicting hip fracture and could be used as a resource-efficient solution for population screening to improve the prevention of hip fracture.
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