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RESEARCH ARTICLE

High interest for long-acting injectable PrEP among men who have sex with men at most risk for HIV in San Francisco, 2021

Christopher J. Hernandez https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6478-7856 A B * , Caitlin M. Turner B C , Dillon Trujillo B D , Moranda Tate B , Jerry Quintana B , Glenda Baguso B , Katherine C. McNaughton B , Sean Arayasirikul B C , Willi McFarland B C and Erin C. Wilson B C
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

B Center for Public Health Research, Department of Public Health, San Francisco, CA, USA.

C Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.

D Department of Community Health Sciences, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA, USA.

* Correspondence to: chrishernandezb@gmail.com

Handling Editor: Nittaya Phanuphak

Sexual Health 21, SH23085 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH23085
Submitted: 30 April 2023  Accepted: 30 November 2024  Published: 19 December 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Background

Men who have sex with men (MSM) represent a disproportionate total of incident HIV cases. Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has contributed to significant declines in total HIV incidence. Barriers to PrEP include individual and structural factors that can prevent PrEP adherence and persistence. Long-acting injectable PrEP (LA-IP) can be leveraged to address high incident rates of HIV.

Methods

This study was a secondary analysis of the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance (NHBS) survey. We measured interest in LA-IP and associated factors among MSM in San Francisco from June 2021 to December 2021.

Results

Of the 505 MSM who were recruited, 409 reported not living with HIV. Interest in LA-IP among MSM in San Francisco was high (78.0%). Interest was associated with the use of on-demand PrEP (adjusted prevalence ratio [aPR] 3.68, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.24–10.9), having two or more sexual partners (aPR 3.65, 95% CI 1.89–7.03), and having condomless insertive anal intercourse (aPR 2.15, 95% CI 1.19–3.87). LA-IP was inversely associated with having a high school education or lower (aPR 0.23, 95% CI 0.08–0.70) and being aged 50 years or more (aPR 0.32, 95% CI 0.19–0.56). Strikingly, we found that five of the six participants who were found to have incident HIV infections in this study were interested in LA-IP. Further, they had used oral PrEP in the past 30 days with suboptimal adherence.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that a population with elevated risk for HIV and barriers to daily oral PrEP adherence may find LA-IP a preferable alternative to daily oral PrEP in meeting their HIV prevention needs.

Keywords: acceptability, adherence, HIV risk, incidence, long-acting injectable PrEP, MSM, on-demand PrEP, prevention.

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