Acceptability and Effectiveness of Point-of-Care HCV Testing in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Systematic Review.
Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver·
- DOI
- 10.1111/liv.70844
- PMID
- 42613632
- PMCID
- —
- OpenAlex
- —
- Study type
- Systematic review
- Publisher
- Publisher unavailable
- Article type
- journal-article
- Integrity
- current
Why this research matters now
Decentralized HCV testing and care models may improve testing uptake and treatment success in LMICs, addressing the reliance on costly and technically demanding centralized laboratory services. High retention in care and cure rates support the potential for these models to advance HCV elimination goals in resource-limited settings.
Structured evidence summary
Research question
This systematic review synthesized evidence on the acceptability and effectiveness of point-of-care HCV testing in low- and middle-income countries to inform scale-up efforts toward HCV elimination.
Study design
Systematic review of studies on decentralized point-of-care HCV testing in LMICs published between 2010 and 2022. The review searched Medline, Embase, PsycINFO, and the Cochrane Library, with two independent reviewers conducting eligibility assessment and full-text review. From 2018 reports identified, 1603 underwent title and abstract screening, 58 met eligibility criteria, and 20 proceeded to data extraction.
Population and setting
Studies were conducted in low- and middle-income countries and included general populations receiving decentralized HCV testing as well as high-risk populations evaluated for HCV self-testing.
Main findings
Among 16 reports examining feasibility and effectiveness, decentralized point-of-care HCV testing showed high testing uptake and linkage to care. In 11 reports providing onsite testing or treatment, uptake exceeded 90%. Four studies of HCV self-testing among high-risk populations demonstrated high acceptability (91-99%), with oral-based self-testing showing higher recommendation rates (94-99%) than blood-based testing (86.1%).
Public-health relevance
Decentralized HCV testing and care models may improve testing uptake and treatment success in LMICs, addressing the reliance on costly and technically demanding centralized laboratory services. High retention in care and cure rates support the potential for these models to advance HCV elimination goals in resource-limited settings.
Important limitations
This summary is limited to the supplied single-article abstract and metadata. The abstract does not report heterogeneity assessment, quality appraisal methods, or detailed characteristics of the excluded studies. Decision-grade interpretation requires access to the full text, including detailed study characteristics, risk of bias assessment, and analysis of contextual factors affecting implementation across diverse LMIC settings.
GIDS interpretation
The classifier links this article to Hepatitis C and Hepatitis E under diseases, and to Diagnostics and Treatment under topics. These links facilitate discovery of evidence on point-of-care testing strategies and decentralized care models relevant to viral hepatitis programs. No countries were linked, reflecting the broad geographic scope of the systematic review across multiple LMICs.
Related GIDS surveillance
Literature context does not validate, explain, or change a surveillance signal. Exact and contextual relationships are shown separately.
Evidence relationships
This article has 8 auditable classifier relationships to diseases, places, topics, and study design.