Considerable interest in pre-exposure prophylaxis uptake among men who have sex with men recruited from a popular geosocial-networking smartphone application in London

ABSTRACT

Men who have sex with men (MSM) who use smartphone applications (apps) to meet sexual partners represent a high-risk subset of MSM. As such, the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) may be highly suitable. The purpose of the study was to evaluate awareness of and willingness to use PrEP among 179 HIV-uninfected MSM recruited in London who use these apps. Regression models were fit to assess the associations between perceived barriers and willingness to use PrEP in the future. Most (84.9%) had heard of PrEP and more than half (57.1%) were willing to use PrEP in the future if it were to become available. Low perceived risk for acquiring HIV (prevalence ratio (PR): 0.11; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.04, 0.33) and concerns about PrEP-related side effects (PR: 0.01; 95% CI: 0.00, 0.04) were associated with being unwilling to use PrEP. Efforts to make PrEP widely available should be continued. Uptake interventions should focus on correcting self-perceptions of HIV risk and educate MSM about the potential side effects of PrEP use so that MSM can make more informed decisions about prevention options.

KEYWORDS:

• Men who have sex with men
• geosocial-networking smartphone applications
• pre-exposure prophylaxis
• United Kingdom

Acknowledgements

We thank the participants for their contributions to the project. We thank Daniel Hagen for commenting on an earlier version of this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

William C. Goedel http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2869-1048

Kenneth H. Mayer http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7460-733X

Matthew J. Mimiaga http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9256-2905

Dustin T. Duncan http://orcid.org/0000-0001-8586-8711

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by an individual research grant from the New York University College of Arts and Science Dean's Undergraduate Research Fund (PI: William C. Goedel) and Dr Dustin T. Duncan's New York University Start-Up Research Fund. Dr Dustin T. Duncan was supported by his New York University School of Medicine Start-Up Research Fund to work on this project.