Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemiological complexity: A scoping review of Agent-Based Models and their application.

<h4>Objective</h4>To end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, despite the increasing poverty and inequalities, policies should be designed to deal with population heterogeneity and environmental changes. Bottom-up designs, such as the Agent-Based Model (ABM), can model these features, dealing with...

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Main Authors: Rodrigo Volmir Anderle, Robson Bruniera de Oliveira, Felipe Alves Rubio, James Macinko, Ines Dourado, Davide Rasella
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2024-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297247&type=printable
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author Rodrigo Volmir Anderle
Robson Bruniera de Oliveira
Felipe Alves Rubio
James Macinko
Ines Dourado
Davide Rasella
author_facet Rodrigo Volmir Anderle
Robson Bruniera de Oliveira
Felipe Alves Rubio
James Macinko
Ines Dourado
Davide Rasella
author_sort Rodrigo Volmir Anderle
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Objective</h4>To end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, despite the increasing poverty and inequalities, policies should be designed to deal with population heterogeneity and environmental changes. Bottom-up designs, such as the Agent-Based Model (ABM), can model these features, dealing with such complexity. HIV/AIDS has a complex dynamic of structural factors, risk behaviors, biomedical characteristics and interventions. All embedded in unequal, stigmatized and heterogeneous social structure. To understand how ABMs can model this complexity, we performed a scoping review of HIV applications, highlighting their potentialities.<h4>Methods</h4>We searched on PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus repositories following the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. Our inclusion criteria were HIV/AIDS studies with an ABM application. We identified the main articles using a local co-citation analysis and categorized the overall literature aims, (sub)populations, regions, and if the papers declared the use of ODD protocol and limitations.<h4>Results</h4>We found 154 articles. We identified eleven main papers, and discussed them using the overall category results. Most studies model Transmission Dynamics (37/154), about Men who have sex with Men (MSM) (41/154), or individuals living in the US or South Africa (84/154). Recent studies applied ABM to model PrEP interventions (17/154) and Racial Disparities (12/154). Only six papers declared the use of ODD Protocol (6/154), and 34/154 didn't mention the study limitations.<h4>Conclusions</h4>While ABM is among the most sophisticated techniques available to model HIV/AIDS complexity. Their applications are still restricted to some realities. However, researchers are challenged to think about social structure due model characteristics, the inclusion of these features is still restricted to case-specific. Data and computational power availability can enhance this feature providing insightful results.
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spelling doaj.art-760fd944543146f099f05d3bd767b3a12024-02-07T05:31:02ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032024-01-01192e029724710.1371/journal.pone.0297247Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemiological complexity: A scoping review of Agent-Based Models and their application.Rodrigo Volmir AnderleRobson Bruniera de OliveiraFelipe Alves RubioJames MacinkoInes DouradoDavide Rasella<h4>Objective</h4>To end the AIDS epidemic by 2030, despite the increasing poverty and inequalities, policies should be designed to deal with population heterogeneity and environmental changes. Bottom-up designs, such as the Agent-Based Model (ABM), can model these features, dealing with such complexity. HIV/AIDS has a complex dynamic of structural factors, risk behaviors, biomedical characteristics and interventions. All embedded in unequal, stigmatized and heterogeneous social structure. To understand how ABMs can model this complexity, we performed a scoping review of HIV applications, highlighting their potentialities.<h4>Methods</h4>We searched on PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus repositories following the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. Our inclusion criteria were HIV/AIDS studies with an ABM application. We identified the main articles using a local co-citation analysis and categorized the overall literature aims, (sub)populations, regions, and if the papers declared the use of ODD protocol and limitations.<h4>Results</h4>We found 154 articles. We identified eleven main papers, and discussed them using the overall category results. Most studies model Transmission Dynamics (37/154), about Men who have sex with Men (MSM) (41/154), or individuals living in the US or South Africa (84/154). Recent studies applied ABM to model PrEP interventions (17/154) and Racial Disparities (12/154). Only six papers declared the use of ODD Protocol (6/154), and 34/154 didn't mention the study limitations.<h4>Conclusions</h4>While ABM is among the most sophisticated techniques available to model HIV/AIDS complexity. Their applications are still restricted to some realities. However, researchers are challenged to think about social structure due model characteristics, the inclusion of these features is still restricted to case-specific. Data and computational power availability can enhance this feature providing insightful results.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297247&type=printable
spellingShingle Rodrigo Volmir Anderle
Robson Bruniera de Oliveira
Felipe Alves Rubio
James Macinko
Ines Dourado
Davide Rasella
Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemiological complexity: A scoping review of Agent-Based Models and their application.
PLoS ONE
title Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemiological complexity: A scoping review of Agent-Based Models and their application.
title_full Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemiological complexity: A scoping review of Agent-Based Models and their application.
title_fullStr Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemiological complexity: A scoping review of Agent-Based Models and their application.
title_full_unstemmed Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemiological complexity: A scoping review of Agent-Based Models and their application.
title_short Modelling HIV/AIDS epidemiological complexity: A scoping review of Agent-Based Models and their application.
title_sort modelling hiv aids epidemiological complexity a scoping review of agent based models and their application
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0297247&type=printable
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