Daily Oral PrEP Has Highest Preference Ranking Among Young Men

THURSDAY, Oct. 12, 2023 (HealthDay News) -- Daily oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has the highest preference ranking among young men who have sex with men, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the International AIDS Society.

Katie B. Biello, Ph.D., M.P.H., from Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, and colleagues surveyed 737 cisgender young men who have sex with men (age 15 to 24 years) without HIV. Participants completed a conjoint experiment comparing daily oral pills, event-driven oral pills, event-driven rectal douches, intramuscular injections, intravenous broadly neutralizing antibody (bnAb) infusions, and subcutaneous implants for PrEP; the products were ranked from the most to least preferred.

The researchers found that the highest preference ranking was for daily oral PrEP, followed by event-driven oral pills, injections, implants, bnAb infusions, and rectal douches (odds ratios, 0.89, 0.83, 0.48, 0.38, and 0.24, respectively). Differences in PrEP preferences were seen across age, insurance status, sexual behavioral, PrEP use history, HIV and sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing history, and STI diagnoses. Reasons for selecting the top product included ease of use for those who chose daily oral and daily event-driven pills (99 and 98.5 percent, respectively) and feeling more protected for those who chose injections and implants (95.4 and 100 percent, respectively). For those who chose bnAb infusions and rectal douches, the top reasons were not worrying about forgetting to take it (93.8 percent) and being able to stop taking it when they want (90.9 percent), respectively.

"Understanding preferences is important because we need to create interventions that connect people to their preferred delivery method," coauthor Pablo K. Valente, M.D., also from Brown University, said in a statement.

Two authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text