That’s according to a CDC review of studies from recent years that reported PrEP-use data among men who have sex with men.
By Benjamin Ryan
In recent years, there has been a near annual doubling of the proportion of U.S. men who have sex with men reporting use of Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis among MSM participating in studies that reported data on PrEP use.
Publishing their findings in the journal AIDS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers identified 72 studies published between 2006 and 2018 that met their search criteria, which included reporting on PrEP use. Sample sizes ranged between 30 and 6,483 people.
Fifty-five of the studies were based in the United States. The most common target populations were MSM (58 studies), young adults (15 studies), transgender people (10 studies) and African Americans (8 studies).
Throughout the studies, 5 percent of all MSM who were indicated for PrEP use, meaning they were good candidates according to prescription guidelines, took Truvada for prevention. On average, the proportion of MSM reporting PrEP use doubled annually, from 1.9 percent during the years before 2012, to 10 percent in 2012, 3.2 percent in 2013, 5.6 percent in 2014, 14.4 percent in 2015, and 24.5 percent in 2016.
This study is limited by the fact that it was based on self-reported use of PrEP and may not reflect actual use. Also, the findings are not generalizable beyond the population of MSM who participated in these studies. And there may have been some overlap between the men who participated in the various studies.
In a previous CDC modeling study, published in 2016, researchers projected that if 40 percent of MSM in the United States used PrEP, this would cut expected HIV infections in the nation by 33 percent. In 2017, the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention set a target of increasing the number of PrEP users by fivefold by 2020.
Given the apparently steep increase in the number of MSM taking PrEP in the United States, the CDC concluded in its new paper that “if current efforts to promote effective PrEP use are maintained, we may see maximum coverage of PrEP use within several years and may meet these assertive U.S. national objectives.”
What the CDC paper does not mention, however, is that numerous sources have indicated that PrEP use has remained largely relegated to white MSM older than 25. Such a stubborn demographic trend may ultimately stymie PrEP’s power to reduce the national HIV infection rate.
According to Gilead Sciences’ most recent estimate, 180,000 people in the United States were taking PrEP as of the middle of 2018.
For a complete archive of PrEP reporting, go to benryan.net/prep.
By Benjamin Ryan
In recent years, there has been a near annual doubling of the proportion of U.S. men who have sex with men reporting use of Truvada as pre-exposure prophylaxis among MSM participating in studies that reported data on PrEP use.
Publishing their findings in the journal AIDS, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers identified 72 studies published between 2006 and 2018 that met their search criteria, which included reporting on PrEP use. Sample sizes ranged between 30 and 6,483 people.
Fifty-five of the studies were based in the United States. The most common target populations were MSM (58 studies), young adults (15 studies), transgender people (10 studies) and African Americans (8 studies).
Throughout the studies, 5 percent of all MSM who were indicated for PrEP use, meaning they were good candidates according to prescription guidelines, took Truvada for prevention. On average, the proportion of MSM reporting PrEP use doubled annually, from 1.9 percent during the years before 2012, to 10 percent in 2012, 3.2 percent in 2013, 5.6 percent in 2014, 14.4 percent in 2015, and 24.5 percent in 2016.
This study is limited by the fact that it was based on self-reported use of PrEP and may not reflect actual use. Also, the findings are not generalizable beyond the population of MSM who participated in these studies. And there may have been some overlap between the men who participated in the various studies.
In a previous CDC modeling study, published in 2016, researchers projected that if 40 percent of MSM in the United States used PrEP, this would cut expected HIV infections in the nation by 33 percent. In 2017, the CDC’s Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention set a target of increasing the number of PrEP users by fivefold by 2020.
Given the apparently steep increase in the number of MSM taking PrEP in the United States, the CDC concluded in its new paper that “if current efforts to promote effective PrEP use are maintained, we may see maximum coverage of PrEP use within several years and may meet these assertive U.S. national objectives.”
What the CDC paper does not mention, however, is that numerous sources have indicated that PrEP use has remained largely relegated to white MSM older than 25. Such a stubborn demographic trend may ultimately stymie PrEP’s power to reduce the national HIV infection rate.
According to Gilead Sciences’ most recent estimate, 180,000 people in the United States were taking PrEP as of the middle of 2018.
For a complete archive of PrEP reporting, go to benryan.net/prep.
RSS Feed