Awareness and uptake of non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP) among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men in China: a cross-sectional study

ABSTRACT

Non-occupational post-exposure prophylaxis (nPEP) is recommended to reduce the likelihood of HIV infection after potential exposure. However, little is known about this practice among Chinese gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBM). GBM were enrolled from both centers for disease prevention and control (CDCs) and community health centers in six cities in China. Multivariable logistics regression was used to assess factors associated with awareness of and willingness to use nPEP. A total of 516 eligible GBM were included, 67.2% of whom were aware of nPEP, 76.0% were willing to use nPEP, and 2.3% had ever used nPEP. GBM who had college or higher education, had disclosed sexual orientation, had increased number of male sex partners in the last 6 months, and had ever tested for HIV were more likely to be aware of nPEP. Willingness to use nPEP was significantly associated with college or higher education, STI history, gay app use, and awareness of nPEP prior to study. Uptake of nPEP is still low among MSM in China. Efforts are needed to improve awareness of and access to nPEP among GBM, especially those at higher risk of HIV infection.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• GBM
• non-occupational exposure
• post-exposure

Acknowledgments

We thank all the workers and men that participated in the study.

Disclosure statement

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

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China Excellent Young Scientists Fund [82022064], Natural Science Foundation of China International/Regional Research Collaboration Project [72061137001], Natural Science Foundation of China Young Scientist Fund[81703278], the National Science and Technology Major Project of China [2018ZX10721102], the Sanming Project of Medicine in Shenzhen [SZSM201811071], the High Level Project of Medicine in Longhua, Shenzhen [HLPM201907020105], the National Key Research and Development Program of China [2020YFC0840900], the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission Basic Research Program [JCYJ20190807155409373], Special Support Plan for High-Level Talents of Guangdong Province[2019TQ05Y230], the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities [58000-31620005], Top Talent Support Program for Young and Middle-aged People of Wuxi Health Committee [BJ2020099] and General Program of Wuxi Health Committee [MS202012]. All funding parties did not have any role in the design of the study or in the explanation of the data.