44; 95% click here confidence interval (CI) 1.24−9.57; P < 0.05] and ‘other’ Black (born outside sub-Saharan Africa) ethnicity (AOR 4.63; 95% CI 1.06–20.11; P < 0.05). We also found an association between older age and decreased likelihood of lifetime IPV (AOR 0.92; 95% CI 0.86–0.97;

P < 0.05). Over half of the women in this study reported lifetime experience of IPV. We found associations between IPV and mental health problems, younger age and other Black ethnicity. In view of its high prevalence, we advocate greater awareness of IPV among HIV healthcare professionals and recommend universal screening. Intimate partner violence (IPV) is defined as physical, sexual or psychological harm by a current or former partner or spouse [1]. The World Health Organization's multi-country study found that lifetime prevalence of physical and/or sexual partner violence was between 15 and 71% [2]. IPV is estimated to affect 28% of women living in the UK in their lifetime [3]. The social, psychological and physical consequences of IPV are considerable and it has been shown to Everolimus molecular weight have adverse effects on health in both the short and long term [4]. Women experiencing IPV are more likely to be in regular contact with healthcare professionals than

women who are not experiencing IPV, providing important opportunities to identify women and offer support [5]. This has led to the UK’s Department of Health recommending that all National Health Service (NHS) trusts work towards routinely asking women about their experiences of IPV in clinical

settings [6]. Women living with HIV are more likely to experience IPV than HIV-negative women [7-10]. IPV may predate the HIV diagnosis or follow as a consequence of it [11]. IPV is a risk factor for HIV acquisition, possibly as a result of nonconsensual sex or difficulties negotiating safer sex [12-15]. Furthermore, male perpetrators of IPV are more likely to have HIV or other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) than nonperpetrators [16, 17]. IPV is also a predictor of worse HIV outcomes [18]. It may impair a woman’s ability to disclose her HIV status to her partner [19, 20], and to make appropriate decisions about health, including attendance at clinic appointments [21, 22], adherence to medication [23], and abstaining from breastfeeding to prevent mother-to-child transmission [9]. Nintedanib datasheet In view of the recognized paucity of data on IPV in women living with HIV in the UK [24], we conducted a study of women attending the HIV out-patient department at the Homerton University Hospital. The hospital is in Hackney in East London, an area with significant socioeconomic deprivation [25] and where local lifetime prevalence of physical IPV is as high as 41% in women attending primary care [26]. Within our HIV clinic population there are high levels of social vulnerability [27] and a higher proportion of female patients than in many other UK centres.