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. 2020 Nov 11;20:830. doi: 10.1186/s12879-020-05554-x

Table 2.

Characteristics of practicability and effectiveness of HIV self-testing in unassisted versus directly assisted approach and effects of unassisted approach on the practicability and effectiveness of HIV self-testing

Outcome Directly assisted HIVST Unassisted
HIVST
Differencea
% (95% CI)
Non-inferiority of unassisted HIVSTb Adjusted Risk Ratioc
(95% CI)
p-valuec
Primary outcomes, n/N (%)
 - Successful performance of HIV self-test 245/263 (93.2) 222/237 (93.7) 0.5 (−0.1 to 1.1) Yes 1.11 [0.68 to 1.81] 0.817
 - Correct interpretation of HIV self-test results 245/263 (93.2) 206/237 (86.9) −6.3 (−10.8 to 2.5) No 0.60 [0.36 to 0.98] 0.019
Secondary outcome, n/N (%)
 - Assistance requested 110/263 (41.8) 80/237 (33.8)d −8.0 (−13.9 to 2.7) No 0.87 [0.67 to 1.14] 0.063
 - Retention ratee 263/265 (99.2) 237/265 (89.4)f −9.8 (−15.9 to 4.9) No 0.13 [0.03 to 0.51] 0.004
 - Positivity rate with confirmation HIV testing 9/263 (3.4) 4/137 (1.7) −1.7 (−6.1 to 2.7) Yes 0.65 [0.32 to 2.02] 0.854
 - Linkage to care 7/9 (77.8) 3/4 (75.0) −2.8 (−9.5 to 5.1) Yes 0.89 [0.42 to 1.89] 0.763
 - Willing to buy HIV self-test kit if locally availableg 195/263 (74.1) 217/237 (91.6) 17.5 (14.1 to 21.1) Yes 4.20 [2.42 to 7.32] < 0.001

aDifference assessed with Wald asymptotic test;

bNon-inferiority was defined as a lower limit > −10 of the 95% CI around the difference in outcomes;

cEstimates and confidence intervals are marginal effect from regression of Poisson;

dMajority (72/80; 90%) requested assistance via telephone; and 8 (10%) participants declared to have been assisted by a trusted person;

eReturn rate was defined as the number of included participant who completed the evaluation throughout the follow-up period;

gThe mean of self-test purchase price was estimated at 2.80 USD per test (limit: 0.33–5.41) in the unassisted HIV self-testing group while it was 2.96 USB per test (limit: 0.36–10.25) in the directly assisted group

CI Confidence internal, HIVST HIV self-testing