Ya-Lin A Huang1, Guoyu Tao2, Dawn K Smith1, Karen W Hoover1. 1. Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA. 2. Division of STD Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Daily oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective in preventing HIV infection if used adherently throughout periods of HIV risk. We estimated PrEP persistence among cohorts of persons with commercial or Medicaid insurance. METHODS: We analyzed data from the IBM MarketScan Research Database to identify persons aged 18-64 years who initiated PrEP between 2012-2017. We assessed PrEP persistence by calculating the time period that each person continued filling PrEP prescriptions until there was a gap in prescription fills >30 days. We used Kaplan-Meier time-to-event methods to estimate the proportion of PrEP users who persisted with PrEP at 3, 6, and 12 months after initiation, and constructed Cox proportional hazards models to determine patient characteristics associated with non-persistence. RESULTS: We studied 11,807 commercially insured and 647 Medicaid insured persons with PrEP prescriptions. Commercially insured patients persisted for median time of 13.7 months (95% CI 13.3-14.1), compared to 6.8 months (95% CI 6.1-7.6) among Medicaid patients. Additionally, female sex, younger age, residence in rural location, and black race were associated with shorter persistence. After adjusting for covariates, we found that female sex (Hazard Ratio [HR]=1.81; 95% CI 1.56-2.11) and younger age (18-24 years: HR=2.38; 95% CI 2.11-2.69) predicted non-persistence. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of commercially insured persons who initiated PrEP persisted with it for 12 months, compared to a third of those with Medicaid. A better understanding of reasons for non-persistence is important to support persistent PrEP use, and to develop interventions designed for the diverse needs of at-risk populations. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2020. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
BACKGROUND: Daily oral preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is highly effective in preventing HIV infection if used adherently throughout periods of HIV risk. We estimated PrEP persistence among cohorts of persons with commercial or Medicaid insurance. METHODS: We analyzed data from the IBM MarketScan Research Database to identify persons aged 18-64 years who initiated PrEP between 2012-2017. We assessed PrEP persistence by calculating the time period that each person continued filling PrEP prescriptions until there was a gap in prescription fills >30 days. We used Kaplan-Meier time-to-event methods to estimate the proportion of PrEP users who persisted with PrEP at 3, 6, and 12 months after initiation, and constructed Cox proportional hazards models to determine patient characteristics associated with non-persistence. RESULTS: We studied 11,807 commercially insured and 647 Medicaid insured persons with PrEP prescriptions. Commercially insured patients persisted for median time of 13.7 months (95% CI 13.3-14.1), compared to 6.8 months (95% CI 6.1-7.6) among Medicaid patients. Additionally, female sex, younger age, residence in rural location, and black race were associated with shorter persistence. After adjusting for covariates, we found that female sex (Hazard Ratio [HR]=1.81; 95% CI 1.56-2.11) and younger age (18-24 years: HR=2.38; 95% CI 2.11-2.69) predicted non-persistence. CONCLUSIONS: More than half of commercially insured persons who initiated PrEP persisted with it for 12 months, compared to a third of those with Medicaid. A better understanding of reasons for non-persistence is important to support persistent PrEP use, and to develop interventions designed for the diverse needs of at-risk populations. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America 2020. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.
Keywords:
PrEP; medication use; persistence; preexposure prophylaxis; prescription fill
Authors: Uwe Koppe; Ulrich Marcus; Stefan Albrecht; Klaus Jansen; Heiko Jessen; Barbara Gunsenheimer-Bartmeyer; Viviane Bremer Journal: BMC Public Health Date: 2021-01-19 Impact factor: 3.295