BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to put strain on health systems in the United States, leading to significant shifts in the delivery of routine clinical services, including those offering HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). We aimed to assess whether individuals discontinued PrEP use at higher rates during the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent to which disruptions to usual clinical care were mitigated through telehealth. METHODS: Using data from an ongoing prospective cohort of men who have sex with men (MSM) newly initiating PrEP in 3 mid-sized cities (n = 195), we calculated the rate of first-time discontinuation of PrEP use in the period before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared these rates using incidence rate ratios (IRRs). Furthermore, we compared the characteristics of patients who discontinued PrEP use during these periods with those who continued to use PrEP during both periods. RESULTS: Rates of PrEP discontinuation before the COVID pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic were comparable [4.29 vs. 5.20 discontinuations per 100 person-months; IRR: 1.95; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83 to 1.77]. Although no significant differences in the PrEP discontinuation rate were observed in the overall population, the rate of PrEP discontinuation increased by almost 3-fold among participants aged 18-24 year old (IRR: 2.78; 95% CI: 1.48 to 5.23) and by 29% among participants covered by public insurance plans at enrollment (IRR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.03 to 5.09). Those who continued to use PrEP were more likely to have had a follow-up clinical visit by telehealth in the early months of the pandemic (45% vs. 17%). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, rates of PrEP discontinuation were largely unchanged with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of telehealth likely helped retain patients in PrEP care and should continue to be offered in the future.
BACKGROUND: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic continues to put strain on health systems in the United States, leading to significant shifts in the delivery of routine clinical services, including those offering HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). We aimed to assess whether individuals discontinued PrEP use at higher rates during the COVID-19 pandemic and the extent to which disruptions to usual clinical care were mitigated through telehealth. METHODS: Using data from an ongoing prospective cohort of men who have sex with men (MSM) newly initiating PrEP in 3 mid-sized cities (n = 195), we calculated the rate of first-time discontinuation of PrEP use in the period before the COVID-19 pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic and compared these rates using incidence rate ratios (IRRs). Furthermore, we compared the characteristics of patients who discontinued PrEP use during these periods with those who continued to use PrEP during both periods. RESULTS: Rates of PrEP discontinuation before the COVID pandemic and during the COVID-19 pandemic were comparable [4.29 vs. 5.20 discontinuations per 100 person-months; IRR: 1.95; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.83 to 1.77]. Although no significant differences in the PrEP discontinuation rate were observed in the overall population, the rate of PrEP discontinuation increased by almost 3-fold among participants aged 18-24 year old (IRR: 2.78; 95% CI: 1.48 to 5.23) and by 29% among participants covered by public insurance plans at enrollment (IRR: 1.29; 95% CI: 1.03 to 5.09). Those who continued to use PrEP were more likely to have had a follow-up clinical visit by telehealth in the early months of the pandemic (45% vs. 17%). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, rates of PrEP discontinuation were largely unchanged with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. The use of telehealth likely helped retain patients in PrEP care and should continue to be offered in the future.
Authors: Robert M Grant; Javier R Lama; Peter L Anderson; Vanessa McMahan; Albert Y Liu; Lorena Vargas; Pedro Goicochea; Martín Casapía; Juan Vicente Guanira-Carranza; Maria E Ramirez-Cardich; Orlando Montoya-Herrera; Telmo Fernández; Valdilea G Veloso; Susan P Buchbinder; Suwat Chariyalertsak; Mauro Schechter; Linda-Gail Bekker; Kenneth H Mayer; Esper Georges Kallás; K Rivet Amico; Kathleen Mulligan; Lane R Bushman; Robert J Hance; Carmela Ganoza; Patricia Defechereux; Brian Postle; Furong Wang; J Jeff McConnell; Jia-Hua Zheng; Jeanny Lee; James F Rooney; Howard S Jaffe; Ana I Martinez; David N Burns; David V Glidden Journal: N Engl J Med Date: 2010-11-23 Impact factor: 91.245
Authors: Angela B Hoth; Cody Shafer; Dena Behm Dillon; Randy Mayer; George Walton; Michael E Ohl Journal: Sex Transm Dis Date: 2019-08 Impact factor: 2.830
Authors: Christian Grov; Fatima Zohra; Drew A Westmoreland; Chloe Mirzayi; Alexa D'Angelo; Matthew Stief; Sarah Kulkarni; Denis Nash; Adam W Carrico Journal: Arch Sex Behav Date: 2021-11-29
Authors: Ya Lin A Huang; Weiming Zhu; Jeffrey Wiener; Athena P Kourtis; H Irene Hall; Karen W Hoover Journal: Clin Infect Dis Date: 2022-08-24 Impact factor: 20.999