Test 2

Please select your preferred language.

請選擇你慣用的語言。

请选择你惯用的语言。

English
中文简体
台灣繁體
香港繁體

登入

记住我

初到 Fridae?

Fridae Mobile

Advertisement
Highlights

More About Us

新闻&特写

« 较新的 | 较旧的 »
12 Nov 2013

Uptake of PrEP may be limited because few gay men think they are at risk of HIV infection

Toronto study highlights disconnect between 'objective' and 'subjective' assessments of risk.

Three quarters of gay men seeking HIV testing at a Toronto sexual health clinic were assessed as being at elevated risk of infection, but only a minority agreed with that assessment and were willing to use pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), according to a study presented to Controlling the HIV Epidemic with Antiretrovirals: From Consensus to Implementation, a conference held in London (in September 2013).

The study found that men who did rate themselves at increased risk of infection were more likely to be willing to use PrEP, but that men 'objectively' at increased risk were no more likely than others to be interested in using PrEP.

However, it remains possible that the 'objective' screening tool used was not finely tuned enough to identify the men who would benefit most from new methods of HIV prevention.

Numerous studies have investigated awareness and acceptability of PrEP in various populations. For example, among HIV-negative gay men, a London survey found that half were likely or very likely to take PrEP. Whereas younger men, previous users of post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and recent sexual health clinic attendees were more likely to be interested in using PrEP, men’s actual sexual behaviour did not predict willingness to use it.

An Australian study found that the majority of gay men were cautious about using PrEP, with 28% willing to use it. In contrast to the London study, those interested in taking PrEP were more likely to have recently had unprotected anal sex with casual partners and to have had more than ten partners in the past six months. As in London, they were also more likely to have taken PEP.

The Australian researchers also asked respondents, ‘How likely do you think it is you will become HIV-positive?’ (a question that has been included in very few other studies). The vast majority thought themselves unlikely to acquire HIV, with just 3.5% saying that it was likely or very likely. However, those who did think it likely were almost five times more likely than others to be willing to use PrEP.

The new study from Canada further explores men’s perception of risk. This is likely to be a significant issue in the uptake of PrEP, which so far has been slow. Taking PrEP each day requires men to anticipate that they will need extra protection from HIV, but with condoms frequently presented as being 100% effective and with non-condom use highly stigmatised in certain contexts, acknowledging that risk may be challenging for some individuals.

The investigators recruited 423 men who have sex with men (MSM) at a downtown Toronto sexual health clinic. Average age was 30 and most were well-educated.

Overall, acceptability of PrEP was high, with 49.7% saying that they would be willing to take it as a daily tablet.

However, the researchers judged that people who will really take and adhere to PrEP need more than willingness – they also need to perceive themselves at risk of infection. 

When asked about this, 17.0% of men thought that there was ‘more than a little risk’ or ‘a lot of risk’ that they would acquire HIV. Amongst this group, willingness to use PrEP was high, with three-quarters saying that they were willing. Indeed, in multivariate analysis, willingness to use PrEP was associated with this ‘subjective’ assessment of risk.

But far more men who were willing to use PrEP did not consider themselves at increased risk of infection (156 men, 36.9% of the whole sample) than did see themselves at increased risk (54 men, 12.8%).

And the researchers were also interested in ‘objective’ assessments of risk. There are few screening tools which clinicians can use to identify those at increased risk of infection, but the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) have developed one for men who have sex with men, known as HIRI-MSM, which the Canadian researchers used.

Based on analysis of the risk factors for incident HIV infection in two large cohorts of American gay men in the late 1990s (Project Explore and VAXGEN 004), HIRI-MSM asks seven questions about age, partner numbers, receptive and insertive anal sex, HIV-positive partners and drug use. Men scoring 10 or more on the tool should, according to the CDC, have a more in-depth assessment of their sexual behaviour – this will allow clinicians to make decisions about provision of PrEP and other HIV prevention interventions. 

However, the use the Canadian researchers made of the tool is slightly different. Men scoring 10 or more were simply defined as ‘objectively’ having high risk for HIV and therefore as eligible for PrEP.

And most of the men in this cohort of sexual health clinic attendees were at high risk by this reckoning – 77.1% scored over 10.

But in the statistical analysis, men ‘objectively’ rated as at increased risk of infection were no more likely than other men to be willing to use PrEP (whereas 'subjective' risk had been associated with willingness).

So, whereas one-in-seven of the men consider themselves at increased risk of infection (‘subjective’ assessment), the researchers considered three-quarters to be so (‘objective’ assessment).

Looking only at one quarter of the sample, those men with the highest HIRI-MSM scores (the top quartile), just 26.2% rated themselves at increased risk of infection. Similarly, of the one-in-ten men with the highest scores (the top decile), 27.3% thought themselves at elevated risk.

And just 46 of the participants (10.9%) satisfied all three of the following conditions – (a) willing to use PrEP, (b) subjective higher HIV risk, and (c) objective higher HIV risk. “This disconnect between objective and perceived HIV risk may pose a challenge when assessing individuals for PrEP,” say the researchers.

More work is needed to develop appropriate ways of identifying individuals who would benefit from PrEP. Within this, it is worth asking:

Is the ‘subjective’ measure of risk used in this study the most appropriate one? It is challenging for individuals to describe themselves as ‘likely’ to become HIV positive, and it is not certain that people who do not do so are unwilling to take steps to avoid infection.

Is the ‘objective’ measure of risk the most appropriate? While HIRI-MSM is rigorously based on incidence data, the cut-off score of 10 may be too low to only identify those at highest risk of seroconversion. In fact, any man reporting receptive anal sex instantly scores 10 (regardless of condom use or partner numbers), while men aged 18 to 28 have 8 points added to their score. The tool may be best used to exclude individuals who don’t need further assessment (99.5% of those with a score below 10 did not acquire HIV in the next six months), rather than as a tool to identify those at the highest risk (1.9% of those with a score above 10 did acquire HIV in the next six months).

References

Kain T et al. Low Perceptions of HIV Risk among Toronto MSM Seeking Anonymous HIV Testing: Objective and Subjective Assessments of PrEP Eligibility. Abstract 22, Controlling the HIV Epidemic with Antiretrovirals, London, September 2013.

Smith DK et al. Development of a Clinical Screening Index Predictive of Incident HIV Infection Among Men Who Have Sex With Men in the United States. Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 60: 421-427, 2012.

This article was first published by NAM/Aidsmap.com (produced in collaboration with hivandhepatitis.com) and is republished with permission.

读者回应

1. 2013-11-13 00:10  
I thought I was up on HIV related issues, but I have never heard of pre or post exposure prophylactics. In fact, I am tested frequently, the last time only two weeks ago at a gay service center and they have never mentioned it. I'm wondering how effective it is.
2. 2013-11-13 00:12  
I thought I was up on HIV related issues, but I have never heard of pre or post exposure prophylactics. In fact, I am tested frequently, the last time only two weeks ago at a gay service center and they have never mentioned it. I'm wondering how effective it is.
3. 2013-11-13 00:54  
captain, if you did a little research on how HIV is contracted - you don't just not have it one second and you do all over your systems the next - there are a series of steps in order for HIV to invade, replicate and spread throughout your body. What these geniuses are trying to do is to stop any one of these steps in the reproduction of HIV in the human body to turn all those nasty stuff into harmless proteins.

Also, there is a pill for you to take if you have been exposed to HIV the last 24 hours, although it does not guarantee you are rid of the virus but it works best in that period because the virus have yet to spread and starving it before it invades and replicates is your best chance of getting rid of it while it's still just a small, localised group of viruses. How do we starve it? You block it's binding proteins so it is unable to attach itself to a human cell in the first place. Study how HIV becomes AIDS in the body and you will see that there is a lot of binding and base-pairing involved. If we can prevent any one step, HIV cannot replicate.

Nice pic, BTW.
4. 2013-11-13 01:01  
If you are low risk, there is no need to mention it...or, you may wish to find another testing location if they are not doing enough educational/behavioral counseling to go along with testing. A few more things to consider if your testing center is up to date: are they doing RNA testing (a much smaller window period) or not? Are they using a swab on the gums or actual blood? A swab or non RNA test may indicate not keeping up with most accurate testing protocols.

I'm not sure of the effectiveness. But I can tell you this. Its a whole lot more effective then crossing your fingers or praying to sky fairies!
5. 2013-11-14 03:11  
I think the biggest problem is the cost. PEP costs about SGD1000 for a one month course. It would be the same for PReP. So I won't be surprised if the testing clinics do not mention it.
6. 2013-11-14 15:35  
Besides the cost, I think a problem the article ignores completely is the side-effects. I know a couple of people who took a post exposure prophylactics recently, and both were shocked by the side-effects they got. I have been HIV+ for almost 23 years and under anti-retroviral treatment for 14 years; my current treatment is perfect with no side-effects at all, so I had forgotten how hard it had been for myself in 1998. Is it really reasonable to offer a pre-exposure prophylactics without warning people that they may experience dizziness, nausea, diarrhea, anguishes/nightmares, etc.? It is very tempting to stop the treatment in such a situation, and this may be catastrophic if you are infected because it can create resistance from the virus. Then you have to find new drugs which work, etc.

On another aspect, I am always amused by statistical studies finding the obvious: people who feel they are in low risk of being infected are not interested in pre-exposure prophylactics!

This study concentrates on clinical and public health concerns at the expense of human concerns, which explains that it is somewhat disconnected from the latter.
7. 2013-11-14 16:33  
just do not understand, why there are some gay want to fuck without condom to gain more pleasure.
Our life is not free anymore.
seem they want to spread? or they paid to spread?
please control and remember this risk.
8. 2013-11-15 02:53  
#6: I don't think side effects is a problem for PReP or PEP. In general, they are a problem but more for those who have to take it for an entire lifetime. Think about it, if you're HIV- and just got exposed, you'll want to go through the entire month of PEP and just "suck it up", since it is not a life long side-effect. I think people on PReP who experience side-effects would stop the PReP at some point and never bother to return again (hopefully, switch back to using condoms). The drugs will wear off and any new infections afterwards would be Wildtype. The danger is probably the opposite! That you don't experience side-effects. Then you'll just be taking PReP on and off (who hasn't forgotten their vitamins on a busy night? :P), potentially allowing any new infection to mutate into a resistant version.

#7: Its the same reason why there are some men who want to fuck with men. You can't always blame someone for wanting and sometimes doing something. Bob Rafsky, a prominent AIDS activist back in the 80s once said:

The question is what does a decent society do with people who hurt themselves because they're human; who smoke too much, who eat too much, who drive carelessly, who don't have safe sex? . . . I think the answer's that a decent society does not put people out to pasture and let them die because they've done a human thing.
修改於2013-11-15 02:56:08

请先登入再使用此功能。

请选择新闻及专栏版本

精选个人档案

Now ALL members can view unlimited profiles!

Languages

View this page in a different language:

赞好

合作伙伴

 ILGA Asia - Fridae partner for LGBT rights in Asia IGLHRC - Fridae Partner for LGBT rights in Asia

Advertisement