Differences in awareness of and willingness to use pre-exposure prophylaxis and anticipated condom use among serodiscordant couples in Taiwan

ABSTRACT

Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has proven to be effective in reducing the risk of HIV transmission in uninfected individuals who engaged in sexual activity with HIV-infected partners. Serodiscordant couples are the key targets of PrEP implementation. The study aimed to compare awareness of and willingness to use PrEP and anticipated condom use among 112 HIV-serodiscordant couples: 32 heterosexuals couples, 70 men who have sex with men (MSM) couples, and 10 people who inject drugs (PWID) couples. A cross-sectional study was conducted in an AIDS designated hospital in Taiwan. The PrEP survey for discordant couples included questions on awareness of non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP) and PrEP, attitudes toward PrEP, anticipated condom use if using PrEP, and sexual behaviors. Overall, 46.2% were aware of PrEP, only 33% were willing to take PrEP, and 44.6% would continue condom use if they were taking PrEP. Among the three key populations, MSM couples had the highest awareness of and willingness to use PrEP. Awareness of and willingness to use PrEP did not differ by HIV status, with moderate agreement (Cohen’s Kappa coefficient: 0.56) between HIV-serodiscordant partners. Both HIV-serodiscordant partners’ willingness to use PrEP was significantly associated with being MSM (adjusted odds ratio (AOR), 4.28 [1.28–14.30], p = 0.018), previous receipt of nPEP (AOR, 6.98 [1.23–39.65], p = 0.028), anticipated condom use (AOR, 0.14 [0.05–0.41], p < 0.001), and income ≥ NT$30,000 per month (AOR, 2.25 (0.99–5.04), p = 0.05). Policy makers need to consider the differences among key populations to scale up PrEP implementation. More efforts should be focused on improving awareness of and willingness to use PrEP among heterosexual and PWID serodiscordant couples to scale up PrEP implementation in Taiwan.

KEYWORDS:

• Pre-exposure prophylaxis
• HIV prevention
• serodiscordant couples
• awareness
• willingness

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by grants (MOHW105-CDC-C-114-000105) from the Taiwan Centers for Disease Control. The authors would like to acknowledge and thank all study participants.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Carol Strong http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2934-5382

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by grants (MOHW105-CDC-C-114-000105) from Taiwan Centers for Disease Control.