Artur Acelino Francisco Luz Nunes Queiroz
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Alvaro Francisco Lopes Sousa
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Sonia Dias
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Isabel Amélia Costa Mendes
Abstract
AIM: We aim to characterize PEP and PrEP awareness in alarge national sample of Brazilian MSM. SUBJECT: Various disparities exist in HIV transmission among men who have sex withmen (MSM). Post-exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) and Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)has been shown as important strategies to prevent HIV, but there is variation in uptakewithin the MSM population. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional,population survey-based, analytical study, conducted exclusively online in all theregions of Brazil, with a sample of 2250 MSM. The multivariate logistic regressionmodel was adopted to produce adjusted odds ratios (ORa), considering a significancelevel at .05. RESULTS: We found a low knowledge about forms of prevention, with 54.6%claiming to know PEP and 46.4% PrEP. Men who did not recognize themselves ashomosexual, that is bisexual (ORa = 1.89, 95% CI 1.48-2.40) and heterosexual (ORa =3.83, 95% CI 2.80-5.24) were more likely to know the PEP. Having a higher minimumwage (ORa = 0.72, 95% CI 0.56-0.93) decreased the chances of knowing PrEP, aswell as having a higher level of education, factors that usually coexist, with thegraduate level being the highest of them (ORa = 0.13, 95% CI 0.06-0.28). CONCLUSION: Men still seem to know PEP from experience, after the failure of other preventivemeasures and not beforehand. PrEP awareness is permeated by barriers related tostructure and social determinants.