Older Versus Younger Men Who Have Sex with Men: Awareness of and Potential Barriers to the Use of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Medication to Prevent the Transmission of HIV.

Hugh Klein,Thomas Alex Washington

doi:10.33696/aids.2.006

Hugh Klein, Thomas Alex Washington

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.33696/aids.2.006

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Abstract

Purpose:This paper compares younger (aged 18–39; n=197) and older (ages 50+; n=53) MSM to determine their familiarity with PrEP, willingness to learn more about PrEP, perceptions of stigma relating to PrEP use, and perceptions of barriers to PrEP adoption.Methods:A purposive sample of diverse MSM completed 15-minute questionnaires. Younger and older MSM were compared using Student’s t-tests and odds ratios for bivariate analyses, and multivariate logistic regression and multiple regressions for analyses controlling for key demographic characteristics.Results:Compared to younger MSM, older MSM were more aware of PrEP, more likely to know another PrEP user, less interested in learning more about PrEP, and more averse to using existing resources to learn more about PrEP. Older men perceived less stigma relating to PrEP and fewer obstacles needing to be overcome in order to give serious consideration to PrEP adoption. These differences remained when race, educational attainment, sexual orientation, and HIV serostatus were controlled.Conclusions:There is a “good news/bad news” situation with respect to older MSM and PrEP. They were more aware of PrEP, less likely to associate stigma with PrEP use or PrEP users, and anticipated fewer barriers to PrEP adoption. They were also less interested than their younger counterparts in learning more about PrEP and expressed less comfort using existing sources of information to learn more about PrEP. Age-appropriate PrEP educational campaigns are advisable in order to reach older MSM and encourage more of them to consider PrEP adoption.

Highlights

Men who have sex with other men (MSM) comprise the single largest group of individuals contracting HIV in the United States, accounting for more than one-half of all new HIV diagnoses [1]
When it comes to the issues that seem to be at the forefront regarding why they are not using Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), the present study’s data suggest that younger men and older men are quite different
On the “good news” side of the equation, older men were much more likely than their younger counterparts to be aware of PrEP and to have had exposure to at least one person whom they knew was or had been a PrEP user

Summary

Introduction

Men who have sex with other men (MSM) comprise the single largest group of individuals contracting HIV in the United States, accounting for more than one-half of all new HIV diagnoses [1]. These persons have been the single most affected of all population groups throughout all of the years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic [1,2,3]. Researchers have documented that substantial proportions of older MSM are sexually active [4,5,6], with many of these persons reporting inconsistent condom use [6,7,8] or involvement in multiple HIV risk behaviors [4,5]. Illegal drug use, which has been linked in numerous studies to greater involvement in risky sex, has been found to be fairly prevalent among older MSM [5,79]

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