Frequency of HIV Testing among Gay & Bisexual Men in the UK: Implications for HIV Prevention
OBJECTIVES:
The
aim of the study was to explore HIV testing frequency among UK men who have sex
with men (MSM) in order to direct intervention development.
METHODS:
Cross-sectional
surveys were completed by 2409 MSM in Edinburgh, Glasgow and London in 2011 and
a Scotland-wide online survey was carried out in 2012/13. The frequency of HIV
testing in the last 2 years was measured.
RESULTS:
Overall,
21.2% of respondents reported at least four HIV tests and 33.7% reported two or
three tests in the last 2 years, so we estimate that 54.9% test annually. Men
reporting at least four HIV tests were younger and less likely to be surveyed
in London. They were more likely to report higher numbers of sexual and anal
intercourse partners, but not "higher risk" unprotected anal
intercourse (UAI) with at least two partners, casual partners and/or
unknown/discordant status partners in the previous 12 months. Only 26.7% (238 of
893) of men reporting higher risk UAI reported at least four tests. Among all
testers (n = 2009), 56.7% tested as part of a regular sexual health check and
35.5% tested following a risk event. Differences were observed between surveys,
and those testing in response to a risk event were more likely to report higher
risk UAI.
CONCLUSIONS:
Guidelines
recommend that all MSM test annually and those at "higher risk" test
more frequently, but our findings suggest neither recommendation is being met.
Additional efforts are required to increase testing frequency and harness the
opportunities provided by biomedical HIV prevention. Regional, demographic and
behavioural differences and variations in the risk profiles of testers suggest
that it is unlikely that a "one size fits all" approach to increasing
the frequency of testing will be successful.
- 1MRC/CSO Social and Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.
- 2Public Health England, London, UK.
- 3Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK.
- 4University College London, London, UK.
- HIV Med. 2016 Mar 15. doi: 10.1111/hiv.12373.
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