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Awareness and Use of HIV Self-Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Remains Low in Spain 2 Years After Its Authorization

OBJECTIVES: HIV self-testing has been available in Spain since 2017 as a diagnostic tool to promote earlier diagnosis. We aimed to assess awareness and previous use of HIV self-testing in a sample of men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited online more than 2 years after its legal authorization in...

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Autores principales: Guerras, Juan-Miguel, Hoyos, Juan, de la Fuente, Luis, Donat, Marta, Pulido, José, Sordo, Luis, García de Olalla, Patricia, Belza, María-José
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9247638/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35784245
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.888059
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author Guerras, Juan-Miguel
Hoyos, Juan
de la Fuente, Luis
Donat, Marta
Pulido, José
Sordo, Luis
García de Olalla, Patricia
Belza, María-José
author_facet Guerras, Juan-Miguel
Hoyos, Juan
de la Fuente, Luis
Donat, Marta
Pulido, José
Sordo, Luis
García de Olalla, Patricia
Belza, María-José
author_sort Guerras, Juan-Miguel
collection PubMed
description OBJECTIVES: HIV self-testing has been available in Spain since 2017 as a diagnostic tool to promote earlier diagnosis. We aimed to assess awareness and previous use of HIV self-testing in a sample of men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited online more than 2 years after its legal authorization in Spain. METHODS: We analyzed 5,492 MSM recruited between May and July 2020 in gay dating apps/websites and other social networks. We estimated the proportion of participants who were aware of the existence of HIV self-testing and the proportion who reported previous use. To identify factors associated with both outcomes we built two Poisson regression models. Among those who reported previous use we described several aspects related to their last self-test. RESULTS: Awareness of HIV self-test was reported by 29.7% and its previous use by 5% of participants. Awareness was independently associated with recruitment in gay dating apps/websites, being ≥40 years old, born in Spain-other European countries, having higher educational level, living in medium-small municipalities and living sex life openly. Independent associations were also found with having received a sexually transmitted infection diagnosis (STI) or an HIV negative test in the last 12 months, and being HIV positive. Use was significantly higher among participants who were paid for sex or diagnosed with an STI in the last 12 months and who received their last HIV test in the preceding year. Self-testing occurred recently, with kits acquired at pharmacies and carried out alone. CONCLUSION: Awareness and use probably have not increased sufficiently in order to make a relevant impact to the promotion of early HIV diagnosis. Additional efforts, mainly focused on less favored MSM, should be made to take better advantage of the possibilities offered by this testing option.
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spelling pubmed-92476382022-07-02 Awareness and Use of HIV Self-Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Remains Low in Spain 2 Years After Its Authorization Guerras, Juan-Miguel Hoyos, Juan de la Fuente, Luis Donat, Marta Pulido, José Sordo, Luis García de Olalla, Patricia Belza, María-José Front Public Health Public Health OBJECTIVES: HIV self-testing has been available in Spain since 2017 as a diagnostic tool to promote earlier diagnosis. We aimed to assess awareness and previous use of HIV self-testing in a sample of men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited online more than 2 years after its legal authorization in Spain. METHODS: We analyzed 5,492 MSM recruited between May and July 2020 in gay dating apps/websites and other social networks. We estimated the proportion of participants who were aware of the existence of HIV self-testing and the proportion who reported previous use. To identify factors associated with both outcomes we built two Poisson regression models. Among those who reported previous use we described several aspects related to their last self-test. RESULTS: Awareness of HIV self-test was reported by 29.7% and its previous use by 5% of participants. Awareness was independently associated with recruitment in gay dating apps/websites, being ≥40 years old, born in Spain-other European countries, having higher educational level, living in medium-small municipalities and living sex life openly. Independent associations were also found with having received a sexually transmitted infection diagnosis (STI) or an HIV negative test in the last 12 months, and being HIV positive. Use was significantly higher among participants who were paid for sex or diagnosed with an STI in the last 12 months and who received their last HIV test in the preceding year. Self-testing occurred recently, with kits acquired at pharmacies and carried out alone. CONCLUSION: Awareness and use probably have not increased sufficiently in order to make a relevant impact to the promotion of early HIV diagnosis. Additional efforts, mainly focused on less favored MSM, should be made to take better advantage of the possibilities offered by this testing option. Frontiers Media S.A. 2022-06-17 /pmc/articles/PMC9247638/ /pubmed/35784245 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.888059 Text en Copyright © 2022 Guerras, Hoyos, de la Fuente, Donat, Pulido, Sordo, García de Olalla and Belza. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Public Health
Guerras, Juan-Miguel
Hoyos, Juan
de la Fuente, Luis
Donat, Marta
Pulido, José
Sordo, Luis
García de Olalla, Patricia
Belza, María-José
Awareness and Use of HIV Self-Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Remains Low in Spain 2 Years After Its Authorization
title Awareness and Use of HIV Self-Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Remains Low in Spain 2 Years After Its Authorization
title_full Awareness and Use of HIV Self-Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Remains Low in Spain 2 Years After Its Authorization
title_fullStr Awareness and Use of HIV Self-Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Remains Low in Spain 2 Years After Its Authorization
title_full_unstemmed Awareness and Use of HIV Self-Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Remains Low in Spain 2 Years After Its Authorization
title_short Awareness and Use of HIV Self-Testing Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Remains Low in Spain 2 Years After Its Authorization
title_sort awareness and use of hiv self-testing among men who have sex with men remains low in spain 2 years after its authorization
topic Public Health
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9247638/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35784245
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.888059
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