Effects of nutritional interventions on nutritional and immunological status and adherence to antiretroviral treatment among adults living with HIV in low- and middle-income countries: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Alain Nahaskida, Jérome W Somé, Befikadu Tariku Gutema, Nele S Pauwels, Stefaan De Henauw and Souheila Abbeddou

PLOS ONE, 2025, vol. 20, issue 6, 1-37

Abstract: Background: HIV/AIDS may cause malnutrition, both directly and indirectly, through common infections. This systematic review and meta-analysis aim to evaluate the effects of nutritional interventions on nutritional status, immunological status, adherence to antiretroviral treatment (ART), and food security among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Method: Five databases—MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and CENTRAL—were searched for articles on August 17, 2021, with an updated search conducted on September 30, 2023 to identify new records. Studies were considered eligible if they included adults living with HIV/AIDS who recently initiated ART, if they were controlled trials that provided nutritional interventions, and if they assessed the relevant nutritional, immunological and adherence outcomes. The effects of nutritional interventions were analyzed using a random-effects model. Results: The systematic review comprised 22 articles from 12 LMICs, while the meta-analysis included 19 articles. The interventions provided lipid-based nutrient supplements, corn–soy blends, food baskets, conditional cash, prepared meals, micronutrient supplementation, and functional foods to PLWHA. Compared to controls, nutritional interventions for PLWHA significantly improved their body mass index (standardized mean difference, 95% confidence interval) (SMD 0.42; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.81; p = 0.03), fat mass (SMD 0.21; 95% CI: 0.07, 0.34; p = 0.002), fat-free mass (SMD 0.33; 95% CI: 0.19, 0.46; p

Date: 2025
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0319843 (text/html)
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id= ... 19843&type=printable (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:plo:pone00:0319843

DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0319843

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in PLOS ONE from Public Library of Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by plosone ().