Preferences for Long-Acting Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), Daily Oral PrEP, or Condoms for HIV Prevention Among U.S. Men Who Have Sex with Men.
George J Greene, Greg Swann, Angela J Fought, Alex Carballo-Diéguez, Thomas J Hope, Patrick F Kiser, Brian Mustanski, Richard T D'Aquila
Author Information
George J Greene: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Greg Swann: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Angela J Fought: Department of Preventive Medicine, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Alex Carballo-Diéguez: New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University Medical Center, New York, NY, USA.
Thomas J Hope: Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Patrick F Kiser: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.
Brian Mustanski: Department of Medical Social Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA.
Richard T D'Aquila: Department of Medicine (Infectious Diseases), HIV Translational Research Center, and Third Coast Center for AIDS Research, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Arthur J. Rubloff Building, 750 N. Lake Shore Dr., Room 9-915, Chicago, IL, USA. richard.daquila@northwestern.edu.
HIV prevention method preferences were evaluated among 512 U.S. men who have sex with men (MSM; median age: 22 years). Approximately 90 % consistently preferred one option across pairwise comparisons of condoms, daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and long-acting PrEP delivered via either an injectable or one of two types of PrEP implants differing in visibility. Condoms were most frequently preferred (33.8 %), followed by non-visible implants (21.5 %), and oral PrEP (17.0 %); HIV risk was reported by more choosing implants. In a follow-up question comparing the four PrEP options only, daily oral pills and non-visible implants were most frequently preferred (35.5 and 34.3 %, respectively), followed by injections (25.2 %) and visible implants (4.3 %). An inductive, open-coding approach determined that convenience, duration of protection, and privacy were the most commonly cited reasons for a PrEP method choice, and associated with self-report of HIV risk. Tailoring PrEP product development to privacy and other concerns important to those at highest HIV risk may improve HIV prevention.
