Hepatitis C Diagnosis and Treatment, Impact on Engagement and Behaviour of People Who Inject Drugs, a service evaluation, the Hooked C project

There is emerging evidence that Hepatitis C (HCV) treatment engagement is associated with change in drug behaviours and reduced drug-related death rates among people who inject drugs (PWID). The project aims to investigate whether HCV diagnosis and treatment engagement reduces all-cause mortality and drug-related death, and whether any effect is dependent on treatment regimen and intensity of engagement with staff. Case-control studies comparing: PWID with active HCV infection (PCR positive) to PWID HCV infected but spontaneously resolved (PCR negative); PCR-positive patients who engaged with treatment services to nonengagers; and patients who received interferon vs direct-acting antiviral (DAA) based treatment. No differences in risk of all-cause mortality or drug-related death between PCR-negative controls and PCR-positive cases were detected. The odds of all-cause mortality was 12.2 times higher in nonengaging persons compared to treatment engaging cases (aOR 12.15, 95% CI 7.03-20.99, P < .001). The odds of a drug-related death were 5.5 times higher in nonengaging persons compared with treatment engaging cases (aOR 5.52, 95% CI 2.67- 11.44, P < .001). No differences in risk of all-cause mortality or drug-related death between interferon-treated cases and DAA-treated controls were detected. HCV treatment engagement is significantly protective against all-cause mortality and drug-related death. This engagement effect is independent of treatment regimen, with the introduction of DAA therapies not increasing risk of drug-related death, suggesting intensity of HCV therapy provider interaction is not an important factor

Abstracts of the 3rd Annual Graduate Entry Research in Medicine Conference

This book contains the abstracts of the papers presented at The 3rd Annual Graduate Entry Research in Medicine Conference (GERMCON 2020) Organized by Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick in collaboration with Swansea University Medical School, Swansea University, Wales, UK held on 12–18 October 2020. This was especially important for Graduate Entry Medical (GEM) students, who have less opportunity and time to engage in research due to their accelerated medical degree. Conference Title: 3rd Annual Graduate Entry Research in Medicine ConferenceConference Acronym: GERMCON 2020Conference Date: 12–18 October 2020Conference Location: Online (Virtual Mode)Conference Organizer: Warwick Medical School, University of Warwick, UKCo-organizer: Swansea University Medical School, Swansea University, Wales, UK Other Abstract Book of GERMCON: Abstracts of the 4th Annual Graduate Entry Research in Medicine Conferenc