Accepted AIDS and Behavior Article!

It's official! Our latest article, "Disengagement from Care Among People Co-Infected with HIV and HCV: A Scoping Review" has been accepted for publication in AIDS and Behavior! With the help of co-authors Dr. Sahar Saeed and Yvonne Tan (MD Candidate, Queen's University), this is Duy Dinh's (BHSc Candidate, Queen's University) first publication as first author!

Disengagement from care among people with HIV (PWH) and hepatitis C (HCV) increases the risks of adverse health outcomes and poses significant barriers to achieving global HIV and HCV elimination goals. In accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute framework, we searched for original studies on (dis)engagement in care among PWH and HCV in high-income countries using eight electronic databases from inception to May 2023. Our search yielded 4462 non-duplicated records, which were scoped to 27 studies. (Dis)engagement in care is a dynamic process influenced by shifting priorities that may ‘tip the balance’ towards or away from regularly interacting with healthcare professionals. However, inconsistent definitions render cross-study comparisons and meta-analyses virtually impossible. Further research needs to establish a standardized definition to identify patients at high risk of disengagement and develop interventions that leverage the nested HIV/HCV care cascades to retain and recover patients lost from care.

We would like to thank Sandra McKeown (Bracken Health Sciences Library, Queen's University) for her assistance in developing the literature search strategy and the Canadian Network on Hepatitis C (CanHepC) for awarding Duy with a stipend as part of the 2023 Summer Student Fellowship. Again, congratulations Duy and Yvonne on a spectacular article! This is EPIX's year of publications!