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Background: To achieve hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination targets, simplified care engaging people who inject drugs is required. We evaluated whether fingerstick HCV RNA point-of-care testing (PoCT) increased the proportion of clients attending a supervised injecting facility who were tested for hepatitis C., Methods: Prospective single-arm study with recruitment between 9 November 2020 and 28 January 2021 and follow-up to 31 July 2021. Clients attending the supervised injecting facility were offered HCV RNA testing using the Xpert® HCV Viral Load Fingerstick (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA) PoCT. Participants with a positive HCV RNA test were prescribed direct acting antiviral (DAA) therapy. The primary endpoint was the proportion of clients who engaged in HCV RNA PoCT, compared to a historical comparator group when venepuncture-based hepatitis C testing was standard of care., Results: Among 1618 clients who attended the supervised injecting facility during the study period, 228 (14%) engaged in PoCT. This was significantly higher than that observed in the historical comparator group (61/1,775, 3%; p < 0.001). Sixty-five (28%) participants were HCV RNA positive, with 40/65 (62%) receiving their result on the same day as testing. Sixty-one (94%) HCV RNA positive participants were commenced on DAA therapy; 14/61 (23%) started treatment on the same day as diagnosis. There was no difference in the proportion of HCV RNA positive participants commenced on treatment with DAA therapy when compared to the historical comparator group (61/65, 94% vs 22/26, 85%; p = 0.153). However, the median time to treatment initiation was significantly shorter in the PoCT cohort (2 days (IQR 1-20) vs 41 days (IQR 22-76), p < 0.001). Among participants who commenced treatment and had complete follow-up data available, 27/36 (75%) achieved hepatitis C cure., Conclusions: HCV RNA PoCT led to a significantly higher proportion of clients attending a supervised injecting facility engaging in hepatitis C testing, whilst also reducing the time to treatment initiation., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: MM has received honoraria for speaking duties for Gilead Sciences. MS has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie and consultant fees from Gilead Sciences for activities unrelated to this work. MH has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie. JSD's institution has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie, and honoraria for speaking from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie. AP has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie, and honoraria for speaking duties from Gilead Sciences. RJW has received investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences. JAH has received honoraria for speaking duties from Gilead Sciences and AbbVie, as well as investigator-initiated research funding from Gilead Sciences, AbbVie, Cook Medical, and the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services. AJT has received consulting fees from Gilead, Abbvie, Roche, BMS, Merck, Immunocore, Janssen, Assembly Biosciences, Arbutus, Eisai, Ipsen and Bayer, speaker fees from Gilead Sciences, and investigator-initiated grants from Gilead Sciences., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: To review the association between exposure to interpersonal violence and suicide among women., Methods: In accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses Protocol (PRISMA-P), this review examined articles identified by using the key terms 'interpersonal violence', 'suicide' and 'death'. Of 5,536 articles identified, 38 met the a priori inclusion criteria. These required that studies examined interpersonal violence, included women and completed suicide was a measured outcome., Results: Thirty-eight studies were identified. These examined suicides among women exposed to interpersonal violence as a victim (n=27) or perpetrator (n=14). A history of interpersonal violence was identified in 3.5-62.5% of female suicides, with many articles finding victims of abuse have an increased risk of death from suicide. Females perpetrating violence may also be at increased the risk of death from suicide. However, several papers have questioned these associations. Further, the contribution of mental illness to this association is unclear., Conclusions: Although the association between suicide and interpersonal violence requires further investigation, being a victim or perpetrator of violence appears to be associated with risk of suicide. Future research should focus on the impact that the type of violence, victim-perpetrator relationship and proximity of violence has on the risk of death from suicide. Implications for Public Health: There may be significant opportunity for targeted suicide prevention strategies among women who have been victims or perpetrators of interpersonal violence., (© 2016 The Authors.)