Correlates of concordance between self-reported and lab-confirmed viral load among Black and Latine men who have sex with men (BLMSM) living with HIV in New York City

ABSTRACT

Sustained viral suppression is one of the four strategies in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) plan to end the HIV epidemic in the United States. Individuals living with HIV must understand their viral load accurately for this strategy to be effective. We conducted cross-sectional analyses using baseline data from the NNHIV longitudinal study among men who have sex with men (MSM) living with HIV in New York City to identify factors associated with concordant knowledge between self-reported and lab-confirmed viral load. Of 164 Black and/or Latine participants, 67% (n = 110) reported that their viral load was undetectable, however lab tests showed only 44% (n = 72) had an undetectable viral load (<20 copies/ml). Overall, 62% of the sample (n = 102) had concordant HIV viral load knowledge (agreement of self-reported and lab viral load). In multivariable regression, those with unstable housing (PR = 0.52, 0.30-0.92) and those who had higher levels of beliefs of racism in medicine scale (PR = 0.76, 0.59–0.97) were less likely to have concordant knowledge. Our study underscores the need for implementing measures to improve viral load knowledge, U = U messaging, and strategies to achieve and maintain undetectable viral load status to reduce the burden of HIV at the population level.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV viral load concordance
• U=U
• MSM
• BLMSM

Acknowledgements

We thank the NNHIV study team & study participants who volunteered their time and energy.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) under the grants R56 MH112401-01A1 and R01 MH118960-01A1.