Risk compensation in HIV PrEP adherence among Black men who have sex with men in HPTN 073 study

ABSTRACT

While HIV infections among men who have sex men (MSM) have started to decline in the United States, Black MSM continue to experience disproportionate rates of HIV infection. The purpose of this secondary analysis is to examine risk perception and its influence on PrEP adherence among Black MSM from HPTN 073. Risk perception was measured using the adapted Perceived Vulnerability to HIV Scale. The associations between risk perception and PrEP adherence were tested using generalized estimation equation model for time-variant repeated measures. Risk perception was not significantly associated with PrEP adherence. These findings suggest an there was no risk compensation among PrEP users, and inconsistency in perceived risk for HIV. Future studies should investigate the rationale for long term adherence to PrEP among Black MSM.

KEYWORDS:

• Black MSM
• HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis
• behavioral compensation
• HIV prevention

Additional information

Funding

The HIV Prevention Trials Network is funded by the NIAID of the NIH-National Institutes of Health under award UM1AI068619 (HPTN Leadership and Operations Center), UM1AI068617 (HPTN Statistical and Data Management Center), and UM1AI068613 (HPTN Laboratory Center). Additional support was provided by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the National Institute of Mental Health, of the NIH. The study product, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine, was donated by Gilead Sciences, Inc.