Share
Title
Awareness and intention to use event-driven and long-acting injectable pre-exposure prophylaxis among adolescent and young men who have sex with men and transgender women in Brazil
Presenter
Laio Magno
Authors
L. Magno1,2, B. Leite2, A. Grangeiro3, L. Dezanet2, F. Soares2, I. Dourado2, PrEP1519 Brazilian Group
Institutions
1Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Salvador, Brazil, 2Universidade Federal da Bahia, Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Salvador, Brazil, 3Universidade de São Paulo, Faculdade de Medicina, São Paulo, Brazil

BACKGROUND: Prevention strategies such as event-driven oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (ED-PrEP) and long-acting injectable PrEP (LAI-PrEP) are emerging as alternatives for adolescents from populations more vulnerable to HIV. We aimed to investigate the awareness and associated factors to intention to use ED-PrEP and LAI-PrEP among adolescents and young men who have sex with men (AYMSM) and transgender women (AYTGW).
METHODS: PrEP1519 is a prospective, multicenter, open-label PrEP demonstration cohort study of AYMSM and AYTGW aged 15–19 in Brazil. For this cross-sectional analysis, we included 597 adolescents enrolled in the cohort from December 2020-March 2022 in the Salvador and São Paulo sites. The outcome variables were the intention to use ED-PrEP and to use LAI-PrEP. The explanatory variables were socio-demographics, sexual behavior, discrimination and violence, and previous use of daily oral PrEP. Descriptive statistics were carried out, and multivariate analysis was conducted to estimate adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI).
RESULTS: Only 15.3% and 18.0% of the adolescents were aware of the ED-PrEP and LAI-PrEP options, respectively. Regarding intention to use, 56.4% and 81.5% reported ED-PrEP and LAI-PrEP, respectively. Adolescents with low adherence to daily oral PrEP were more likely to intend to use ED-PrEP (aOR=2.30; 95%CI:1.04–3.08). Those who reported consistent or frequent condom use in insertive anal sex with steady or casual partners were less likely to intend to use ED-PrEP (aOR=0.37; 95%CI:0.15–0.90). As for LAI-PrEP, those with middle (aOR=1.93; 95%CI:1.05–3.53) or low socioeconomic status (aOR=3.13; 95%CI:1.30–7.51) and those who reported three or more casual partners in the previous three months (aOR=2.25; 95%CI:1.30–3.89) were more likely to intend to use LAI-PrEP. Adolescents who never used daily oral PrEP (aOR=0.31; 95%CI:0.11–0.92) were less likely to intend to use LAI-PrEP.
CONCLUSIONS: AYMSM and AYTGW in Brazil reported a low awareness and high intention to use LAI-PrEP over ED-PrEP. Their sexual behavior pattern and previous experience using daily oral PrEP strongly influenced their intention to use the method. Making different modalities available could increase PrEP uptake and may be a potentially good option for adolescents who have not adapted to daily oral PrEP.

Download the e-Poster (PDF)