RESEARCH ARTICLE

Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to

Antiretroviral Therapy: A Systematic Review
and Meta-Analysis
Zara Shubber1, Edward J. Mills2, Jean B. Nachega3,4,5, Rachel Vreeman6,7,
Marcelo Freitas8, Peter Bock9, Sabin Nsanzimana10,11, Martina Penazzato12,
Tsitsi Appolo13, Meg Doherty12, Nathan Ford12,14*
1 Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom,
2 Precision Global Health, Vancouver, Canada, 3 Department of Epidemiology, Infectious Diseases and
Microbiology, University of Pittsburgh, Graduate School of Public Health Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United
a11111 States of America, 4 Department of Medicine and Centre for Infectious Diseases, Stellenbosch University,
Cape Town, South Africa, 5 Department of Epidemiology and International Health, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg
School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America, 6 Children’s Health Services
Research, Department of Pediatrics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, Indiana, United
States of America, 7 Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare (AMPATH), Eldoret, Kenya,
8 Department of HIV/AIDS, Ministry of Health, Brasilia, Brazil, 9 Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of
Paediatrics and Child Health, Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa, 10 HIV, STI, and Other
Blood Borne Infections Division, Rwanda Biomedical Centre, Ministry of Health, Rwanda, 11 University of
OPEN ACCESS Basel, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute, and Institute for Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics,
Basel, Switzerland, 12 Department of HIV, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 13 AIDS and
Citation: Shubber Z, Mills EJ, Nachega JB, TB Unit, Ministry of Health and Child Welfare, Harare, Zimbabwe, 14 Centre for Infectious Disease
Vreeman R, Freitas M, Bock P, et al. (2016) Epidemiology and Research, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to
Antiretroviral Therapy: A Systematic Review and * fordn@who.int
Meta-Analysis. PLoS Med 13(11): e1002183.
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183

Academic Editor: Sheri D. Weiser, University of Abstract

California San Francisco School of Medicine,
UNITED STATES
Background
Received: June 18, 2016
Maintaining high levels of adherence to antiretroviral therapy (ART) is a challenge across set-
Accepted: October 21, 2016 tings and populations. Understanding the relative importance of different barriers to adher-
Published: November 29, 2016 ence will help inform the targeting of different interventions and future research priorities.
Copyright: © 2016 Shubber et al. This is an open
access article distributed under the terms of the Methods and Findings
Creative Commons Attribution License, which
permits unrestricted use, distribution, and We searched MEDLINE via PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and PsychINFO from 01
reproduction in any medium, provided the original January 1997 to 31 March 2016 for studies reporting barriers to adherence to ART. We cal-
author and source are credited. culated pooled proportions of reported barriers to adherence per age group (adults, adoles-
Data Availability Statement: All relevant data are cents, and children). We included data from 125 studies that provided information about
within the paper and its Supporting Information adherence barriers for 17,061 adults, 1,099 children, and 856 adolescents. We assessed
files.
differences according to geographical location and level of economic development. The
Funding: This work was in part supported by funds most frequently reported individual barriers included forgetting (adults 41.4%, 95% CI
from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to WHO.
37.3%–45.4%; adolescents 63.1%, 95% CI 46.3%–80.0%; children/caregivers 29.2%, 95%
The funders had no role in study design, data
collection and analysis, decision to publish, or CI 20.1%–38.4%), being away from home (adults 30.4%, 95% CI 25.5%–35.2%; adoles-
preparation of the manuscript. cents 40.7%, 95% CI 25.7%–55.6%; children/caregivers 18.5%, 95% CI 10.3%–26.8%),
Competing Interests: The authors have declared and a change to daily routine (adults 28.0%, 95% CI 20.9%–35.0%; adolescents 32.4%,
that no competing interests exist. 95% CI 0%–75.0%; children/caregivers 26.3%, 95% CI 15.3%–37.4%). Depression was

PLOS Medicine | DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183 November 29, 2016 1 / 14

 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

Abbreviations: ART, antiretroviral therapy; reported as a barrier to adherence by more than 15% of patients across all age categories
PRISMA, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic (adults 15.5%, 95% CI 12.8%–18.3%; adolescents 25.7%, 95% CI 17.7%–33.6%; children
Reviews and Meta-Analysis.
15.1%, 95% CI 3.9%–26.3%), while alcohol/substance misuse was commonly reported by
adults (12.9%, 95% CI 9.7%–16.1%) and adolescents (28.8%, 95% CI 11.8%–45.8%).
Secrecy/stigma was a commonly cited barrier to adherence, reported by more than 10% of
adults and children across all regions (adults 13.6%, 95% CI 11.9%–15.3%; children/care-
givers 22.3%, 95% CI 10.2%–34.5%). Among adults, feeling sick (15.9%, 95% CI 13.0%–
18.8%) was a more commonly cited barrier to adherence than feeling well (9.3%, 95% CI
7.2%–11.4%). Health service–related barriers, including distance to clinic (adults 17.5%,
95% CI 13.0%–21.9%) and stock outs (adults 16.1%, 95% CI 11.7%–20.4%), were also fre-
quently reported. Limitations of this review relate to the fact that included studies differed in
approaches to assessing adherence barriers and included variable durations of follow up.
Studies that report self-reported adherence will likely underestimate the frequency of non-
adherence. For children, barriers were mainly reported by caregivers, which may not corre-
spond to the most important barriers faced by children.

Conclusions
Patients on ART face multiple barriers to adherence, and no single intervention will be suffi-
cient to ensure that high levels of adherence to treatment and virological suppression are
sustained. For maximum efficacy, health providers should consider a more triaged approach
that first identifies patients at risk of poor adherence and then seeks to establish the support
that is needed to overcome the most important barriers to adherence.

Author Summary

Why Was This Study Done?

• Despite more than two decades of research on adherence to antiretroviral therapy
(ART) and more than 17 million HIV-positive individuals on treatment, adherence to
ART remains a major challenge.
• This review aimed to assess the most frequently reported barriers to adherence by
patients experiencing adherence challenges.

What Did the Researchers Do and Find?

• Published data from 125 studies on patient-reported barriers to adherence were system-
atically reviewed and analyzed by age group.
• The most frequently reported individual barriers across all age groups included for-
getting, being away from home, and a change to daily routine. Depression was reported
as a barrier to adherence by more than 15% of patients across all age categories, while
alcohol/substance misuse was commonly reported as a barrier by adults and
adolescents.

PLOS Medicine | DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183 November 29, 2016 2 / 14

 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

• With respect to contextual barriers, secrecy/stigma was a commonly cited barrier to

adherence, reported by more than 10% of patients across all regions.
• Health service–related barriers were frequently reported, including distance to clinic
and stock outs.

What Do These Findings Mean?

• Evidence-based interventions exist that may address many of the most common
patient-reported barriers to adherence.
• However, no single intervention will be sufficient to ensure that high levels of adherence
to treatment and virological suppression are sustained.
• Health providers should consider a more triaged approach that first identifies patients
at risk of poor adherence and then seeks to establish the support that is needed to over-
come the most important barriers to adherence.
• Several key health service improvements are also required to ensure that patients are
able to consistently access ART.

Introduction
Global targets for scaling up antiretroviral therapy (ART) include ensuring that 90% of patients
on ART achieve viral suppression. This gives a renewed emphasis to ensuring optimal levels of
adherence. Negative outcomes of longer-term suboptimal adherence include increased risk of
disease progression [1], drug resistance [2], high viral load and consequent risk of transmission
[3,4], and death [5,6].
Maintaining high levels of adherence is a challenge across settings. Suboptimal adherence
to antiretroviral medication has been reported for specific patient groups such as adolescents
[7], pregnant women [8], and others in high-, middle-, and low-income countries. A broad
range of context-specific barriers to adherence have been reported, including forgetfulness,
stigma, adverse drug reactions, and competing responsibilities [9,10]. These challenges have
been categorized as individual, interpersonal, community, and structural factors [11].
Several interventions have been found to improve adherence in randomized trials, includ-
ing adherence counselling, text messaging, and reminder devices [12], and these are recom-
mended by the WHO [13]. However, there remains a need to understand the relative
importance of different barriers to adherence in order to inform the targeting of different
interventions and inform future research.
We conducted this systematic review to assess patient reported barriers to adherence among
HIV-infected adults, adolescents and children in high-, middle-, and low-income countries.

Methods
Search Strategy and Selection Criteria
This study follows the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis
(PRISMA) statement [14]. The study protocol and PRISMA statement are available in the Sup-
porting Information (S1 Text and S2 Text) [14].

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 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

To be included, studies had to provide information about barriers to adherence reported by at

least 50 adult patients or 20 children or their caregivers who were non-adherent to ART according
to study definitions. These cut offs were chosen in practical consideration of the high number of
studies identified through preliminary searches and the limited and sometimes unreliable infor-
mation to be gained from small studies [15]. Using a search strategy that combined terms for
ART, adherence, and commonly reported reasons for non-adherence (See S1 Text), two investi-
gators (ZS, NF) screened MEDLINE via PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and PsychINFO from
01 January 1997 to 31 March 2016. We also screened abstracts from all International AIDS Soci-
ety conferences, all conferences on HIV Treatment and Prevention Adherence, and all confer-
ences of the European Society for Patient Adherence, Compliance, and Persistence from 2012 to
2015, and electronically available abstracts of the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic
Infections (2014–2016) to identify recent studies that may not yet have been published in full. We
supplemented database searches by screening bibliographies of review articles and all included
full-text articles. Studies that included patients mainly receiving dual- or mono-therapy (>20% of
cohort), antiretroviral interventions other than treatment (PEP, PrEP, or PMTCT), or reported
adherence to medication other than ART were excluded from review. We only extracted data on
non-adherent patients, following the definition of non-adherence provided by the studies; if stud-
ies included both adherent and non-adherent patients and data could not be disaggregated, the
study was excluded. Studies assessing adherence interventions were also excluded unless baseline
(i.e., pre-intervention) information was relevant to our analysis. Qualitative studies were excluded
unless relevant quantitative data were also provided. No language restriction was applied.

Data Extraction and Analysis

We extracted data independently in duplicate (ZS, NF) using a standardized, piloted data
extraction form and following the predefined protocol. Barriers to adherence were initially
categorized according to AIDS Clinical Trials Group adherence instrument items, with addi-
tional categories developed to capture challenges common in resource-limited settings [16].
Using categories adapted from a qualitative review of adherence barriers [11], responses were
grouped into individual, contextual, and health service–related barriers; where there was
uncertainty, investigators discussed to achieve consensus. Information about study design and
setting, age of patients, and adherence measure was also extracted. The following variables
were extracted to assess study quality: use of a previously piloted and/or validated question-
naire to assess barriers to adherence; random sampling; and use of objective adherence mea-
sures. These indicators were identified following a review of the first ten eligible studies.
We calculated proportions and corresponding 95% CIs for all reported barriers to adherence
and pooled data following transformation [17,18], using random effects models stratified by age
(adults, adolescents, and children, as defined by the studies) [19]. Because statistical tests for het-
erogeneity are not reliable for pooled proportions [20], we assessed heterogeneity through visual
inspection of forest plots. We ran prespecified subgroup analyses to assess the potential influ-
ence of study quality indicators and explored changes over time (assessed using date of study
completion) using meta-regression. All analyses were conducted in Stata version 13.0.

Results
From an initial screen of 5,560 abstracts, 125 studies met our inclusion criteria (Fig 1). These
studies provided information about barriers to adherence for 19,016 patients—17,061 adults,
1,099 children, and 856 adolescents—with documented non-adherence to ART. Studies were
carried out across 38 countries, with the majority carried out in the Africa region (58 studies,
16 countries), the European region (14 studies, 10 countries), and the Western Pacific region

PLOS Medicine | DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183 November 29, 2016 4 / 14

 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

Fig 1. Study selection process.

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183.g001

(8 studies, 6 countries). Study quality was rated to be moderate overall. The majority of studies
(78/125, 62%) used a validated questionnaire to assess barriers to adherence and piloted the
questionnaire (89/125, 71%); however, less than half of studies (38/125, 30%) used random sam-
pling, and objective adherence measures (pill count, pharmacy refill, and viral load) were only
used in the minority (18/125, 14%) of studies; these limitations are important potential sources
of selection and information bias. The most common definitions of adherence were no missed
doses (55 studies) and >95% adherence (37 studies). Average duration on ART ranged from 4
wk to 239 wk (median 78 wk). Characteristics of included studies are summarized in S1 Table.
The most frequently reported barriers to adherence for adults, adolescents, and children are
summarized in Figs 2–4. The most frequently reported individual barriers across all age groups
included forgetting, being away from home, and a change to daily routine. Depression was
reported as a barrier to adherence by more than 15% of patients across all age categories, while
alcohol/substance misuse was commonly reported as a barrier by adults and adolescents.
Among adults, feeling sick was a more commonly cited barrier to adherence than feeling well
(relative risk 1.68, 95% CI 1.23–2.30). The proportion of adolescents reporting barriers to
adherence was higher per barrier compared to adults, but data are limited and confidence
intervals are wide for most estimates.

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 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

Fig 2. Barriers to adherence among adults on ART.

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183.g002

With respect to contextual barriers, secrecy/stigma was a commonly cited barrier to adher-
ence, reported by more than 10% of patients across all regions (S2 Table). Notably, secrecy/
stigma was more commonly reported as a barrier to adherence among children/caregivers
compared to adults.
Health service–related barriers were frequently reported, including distance to clinic and
stock outs. Distance to clinic was reported as a barrier for all age groups across 11 low- and mid-
dle-income countries in the Africa, South East Asia, and Western Pacific regions. Stock outs were
reported across 13 countries for adults, all in low- and middle-income countries. For children,
two studies reported stock outs in the United States. Barriers related to drug toxicity were fre-
quently reported among adults and adolescents, while for children and adolescents, palatability
was an important concern. In meta-regression, there was evidence that the frequency of reporting
toxicity, pill burden, and being sick as barriers to adherence have reduced over time (Table 1).

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 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

Fig 3. Barriers to adherence among children on ART.

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183.g003

Discussion
Our review highlights the diversity of patient-reported barriers to adherence across age groups.
The most frequently reported individual barriers across all age groups included forgetting,
being away from home, depression, and a change to daily routine; alcohol and/or substance
misuse was commonly reported by adults and adolescents. Health service–related barriers,
including distance to clinic and stock outs, were also frequently reported.
Most barriers to adherence are amenable to interventions that have been evaluated in ran-
domized trials (Table 2) [12,21–30]. Notably, forgetting was the most frequently cited barrier
to adherence across all age groups. Challenges relating to timing of medication, including
being asleep, could be overcome through text messaging, reminder devices, and individual
counseling that seeks to routinize medication taking in a way that fits in with other daily activi-
ties [31].
We found that health service barriers played an important role in frustrating efforts to
maintain high levels of adherence to treatment. Long distance to clinics is a risk factor for loss

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 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

Fig 4. Barriers to adherence among adolescents on ART.

doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183.g004

Table 1. Random effects meta-regression.

Covariate Outcome β coefficient 95% CI p-value
Study date Toxicity -0.009 -0.017–0 0.045
Side effects -0.007 -0.018–0.03 0.162
Pill burden -0.009 -0.017–0 0.045
Palatability -0.012 -0.003–0.050 0.16
Distance to clinic -0.003 -0.040–0.320 0.834
Secrecy/stigma 0.001 -0.009–0.010 0.908
Cost 0 -0.052–0.010 0.115
Felt sick -0.011 -0.186–-0.030 0.006
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183.t001

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 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

Table 2. Common barriers to adherence and corresponding interventions supported by evidence

from randomized trials.
Barrier Intervention
Forgetfulness SMS messaging; reminder devices [12]
Travel Pillbox organizers [21]
Toxicity ART regimens with reduced toxicity [22]
Distance to clinic Decentralization of services [23]; reduced frequency of clinic visits [24]
Depression Mental health screening and support [12, 26–28]
Alcohol/substance misuse Counselling [12, 25]
Palatability Improved pediatric formulations [29]
Pill burden Fixed-dose combinations [30]
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183.t002

to care [32], and decentralization of HIV services is associated with better retention [23].
Recent stock outs of antiretroviral medication have been recorded in several countries in
Africa [33], and there is a pressing need for increased vigilance as countries move to adopt the
policy of treating all HIV-positive individuals and consider transitioning from established
first-line medications to newer regimens.
Previously, concern has been expressed that people who receive ART early in their disease
progression may be less adherent to treatment [34,35]. The finding that feeling sick was a
more commonly reported barrier to adherence than feeling well suggests that this may not be
the case and supports the recent recommendation by WHO to treat all HIV-positive individu-
als regardless of immune status [36]. As HIV programs start to provide early ART to people
earlier in their HIV infection, it will be important to prospectively collect data to further evalu-
ate this concern.
Toxicity and pill burden have both been found to be associated with poor adherence in
other reviews [37,38]. This review found that the frequency of reporting these factors as barri-
ers to adherence has reduced over time, which is consistent with efforts by WHO and other
agencies to promote fixed-dose combinations and rationalize treatment guidelines towards the
use of antiretroviral drugs associated with a better safety profile [39].
The main adherence barriers identified by our review are consistent with a recent review
by Langenbeek et al that found substance use, concerns about ART, satisfaction with care pro-
viders, stigma, social support, and self-efficacy to be strongly associated with adherence [40].
In contrast to the Langenbeek review, which assessed the influence between baseline patient
characteristics and adherence, our review assesses adherence barriers that are reported by
patients and, as such, was able to identify a number of additional frequently reported barriers
that could not be gleaned from clinic records; because of this difference in approach, the num-
ber of studies in our review that were included in the previous review is small (19%). This
approach builds on a previous review of patient-reported barriers to adherence that was pub-
lished in 2006 [10]. There have been considerable changes in ART delivery over the past
decade: the number of patients on ART globally has increased; drug regimens have improved
with respect to tolerability and simplicity; and service provision has been decentralized. In
updating this review, we have been able to include a larger sample size that allowed for a rank-
ing in the frequency of reporting of barriers, disaggregated by age, and an understanding of
how these barriers differ by geographical region and over time. This can allow for a better
understanding about where resources need to be focused in order to improve adherence
among different patient populations.
Several recent studies have indicated that adolescents face challenges across the continuum
of HIV care, and outcomes of ART are worse for adolescents compared to adults [41]. HIV

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 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

programs should pay particular attention to the adherence challenges faced by this vulnerable
population and target adherence interventions accordingly; such an approach would be facili-
tated by the development of better ways to measure adherence. To date, few adolescents have
been enrolled into trials of interventions to improve adherence, and this is an important area
of future research [42]. A pilot feasibility study found that personalized, interactive, daily text
message reminders were feasible and acceptable, and significantly improved self-reported
adherence. However, larger controlled studies are needed to determine the impact of this
intervention on ART adherence and other related health outcomes for youth living with HIV/
AIDS globally [43,44].
Pregnant and postpartum women are another group who face challenges in maintaining
high levels of adherence to medication [8]. Despite the critical need for ART during pregnancy
and the postpartum period, evidence-based interventions to promote ART adherence during
this period are lacking. A recent exploratory study of 109 HIV-positive pregnant South African
women found that mobile phone access (>90%) and interest in text messaging for adherence
support (88.1%) was high, and the majority (95%) of women were willing to disclose their sta-
tus to a treatment buddy/supporter [45].
More generally, the fact that most adherence intervention studies are only able to show a
modest effect in randomized trials is likely in part a consequence of the multiple challenges
patients face in adhering to treatment as indicated by the findings of our review (i.e., within
studies the percentages of reported barriers added up to more than 100%). Future research is
encouraged to evaluate the effectiveness (effect size and interaction effects) of more than one
intervention on virological suppression, using a factorial or adaptive clinical trial design to pre-
cisely determine the specific interventions and components of interventions that work best. [46].
Our review has several strengths and limitations. Strengths include our broad search strat-
egy and inclusion criteria that allowed for the identification of a substantial number of studies
and synthesis of a large dataset. Limitations are mainly related to study quality and include
the variable definitions of adherence used by the different studies, different approaches to
assessing adherence barriers and time on ART and it is possible that these and other unre-
ported factors may have influenced outcomes. Information about drug toxicity is limited by
the possibility that not all experienced adverse events are related to ART, even if they were per-
ceived as a reason to stop taking the medication. Caution is also needed in the interpretation
of results as some reasons for poor adherence (e.g., forgetting) may be put forward because
they are perceived to be more socially acceptable than others (e.g., chaotic lifestyle or substance
misuse). Although several analyses were undertaken to identify potential explanations for vari-
ance in findings, we could not thoroughly explore all possible differences in covariates (e.g.,
geographic region, income) due to the need to avoid spurious associations that may arise from
large numbers of outcomes and covariates. We searched multiple databases and conferences,
which allowed us to include data from over 100 studies for analysis; however, we did not
include regional databases, and this may have limited identification of potentially eligible stud-
ies. An additional limitation to note with respect to children is that barriers were mainly
reported by caregivers, and these may not represent the most important barriers faced by chil-
dren themselves [47]. Finally, any study that looks at self-reported adherence will likely under-
estimate the frequency of non-adherence, and studies that assessed objective measures of
adherence are more likely to be accurate in terms of reflecting true adherence rates.
In conclusion, this review highlights that patients on ART face multiple barriers to adher-
ence and no single intervention will be sufficient to ensure that high levels of adherence to
treatment and virological suppression are sustained. Rather than introducing single interven-
tions into HIV programs, health providers should consider a more triaged approach that first
identifies patients at risk of poor adherence and then seeks to establish the support that is

PLOS Medicine | DOI:10.1371/journal.pmed.1002183 November 29, 2016 10 / 14

 Patient-Reported Barriers to Adherence to Antiretroviral Therapy

needed to overcome the most important barriers to adherence. For maximum efficacy, adher-
ence support strategies should be targeted to those individuals who require support. Finally,
although the majority of the most commonly reported barriers are amenable to intervention at
the individual level, several key health service improvements are also required to ensure that
patients are able to access ART.

Supporting Information
S1 Table. Characteristics of included studies.
(DOCX)
S2 Table. Individual meta-analysis for each barrier, by age and geographical region.
(DOCX)
S1 Text. Systematic review protocol.
(DOCX)
S2 Text. PRISMA checklist.
(DOC)

Author Contributions
Conceptualization: NF.
Data curation: ZS NF.
Formal analysis: NF.
Investigation: ZS EJM JN RV MF PB SN MP TA MD NF.
Methodology: ZS NF EJM.
Supervision: ZS NF.
Validation: ZS NF.
Visualization: NF.
Writing – original draft: ZS EJM JN RV MF PB SN MP TA MD NF.
Writing – review & editing: ZS EJM JN RV MF PB SN MP TA MD NF.

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