Research Article
HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis among U.S. Adults: Awareness of and Willingness to Recommend or Take - HealthStyles Surveys, 2009-2014
Romeo R. Galang, Maria C. B. Mendoza,
Dawn K. Smith
Correspondence Address :
Romeo R. Galang
Epidemiology Branch
Division of HIV/AIDS
Prevention
National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis
STD and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
USA
Tel: 404-639-
6387
Email: RGalang@cdc.gov
Received on: November 01, 2017, Accepted on: November 16, 2017, Published on: November 23, 2017
Citation: Romeo R. Galang, Maria C. B. Mendoza, Dawn K. Smith (2017). HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis among U.S. Adults: Awareness of and Willingness to Recommend or Take - HealthStyles Surveys, 2009-2014
Copyright: 2017 Romeo R. Galang, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Background: Because adults in the U.S. at substantial risk for HIV acquisition would benefit from effective prevention using HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), information is needed about knowledge and attitudes toward PrEP in this population. We described trends in awareness and willingness to recommend or take PrEP using data from the HealthStyles surveys.
Methods: U.S. adults aged ≥18 years were surveyed between 2009-2010 and 2012-2014 to assess awareness of PrEP, willingness to recommend PrEP, and willingness to take PrEP. Prevalence ratios and adjusted linear trend analyses were computed using modified Poisson regression analysis.
Results: Among 19,806 adults surveyed in years 2009-2010 and 2012-2014, 6.5% reported wareness of PrEP. Following a description of PrEP, 78.6% of respondents indicated willingness to recommend PrEP for friends or family members at risk of getting HIV, and 39.8% were willing to take PrEP themselves. Awareness of PrEP increased while willingness to recommend or take PrEP decreased significantly over the 5 surveys.
Conclusions: Among adults in the general U.S. population, awareness of HIV preexposure prophylaxis is low but increasing. U.S. adults have strong but decreasing interest in recommending or taking PrEP after it has been described to them. It will be important to continue monitoring knowledge and attitudes among adults as the use of PrEP increases.