Eight times more young adults now take HIV prevention meds
Eight times more young Americans are taking antiretroviral meds to protect them from HIV infection than a decade ago, a new study says.
About 208 of every 100,000 U.S. young adults were using pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, to prevent becoming infected with HIV in 2023, researchers reported recently in the Journal of General Internal Medicine.
That's up from 26 of 100,000 who filled a prescription for PrEP pills in 2016, researchers found in their analysis of data for 18- to 25-year-olds.
"This is a patient population we often neglect in health care, because we don't think about them belonging to pediatric care or adult care, and their stage of cognitive development means they underestimate their STI [sexually transmitted infection] risk in general - yet they're one of the highest risk groups for a new diagnosis of HIV," said lead researcher Dr. Nina Hill, a general internist and pediatrician at the University of Michigan Medical School.
"We're encouraged to see more prescribing over time, but the question remains: are we getting it to the highest-risk patients?" Hill added in a news release.
For the study, researchers analyzed records on more than 1.4 million PrEP prescriptions dispensed to nearly 240,000 young adults between 2016 and 2023.
The first PrEP medication, Truvada, was introduced in 2012 and became available as a generic drug in 2020, researchers said in background notes. A second oral option, Descovy, became available in 2019.
The drugs reduce the chances of acquiring HIV through sex by 99%, when taken consistently as prescribed, researchers said.
Nearly 9 of 10 (87%) of the prescriptions went to men, but Hill noted that some women also are at risk for HIV and could be eligible for PrEP.
Unfortunately, results also showed that the length of time a person remained on PrEP declined by more than two weeks.
This might indicate inconsistent use of PrEP, or show that young adults have trouble keeping up with the appointments and tests needed to continue the medication, researchers said.
Nurse practitioners accounted for 39% of the prescriptions, while family doctors handed out 22% of the scrips, results show. Internists and physician assistants accounted for 14% and 11%, respectively.
PrEP has been recommended since 2019 by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force for teens and adults with an increased risk of acquiring HIV, researchers said.
Under the Affordable Care Act, most insurance programs are required to make PrEP and HIV screening available to patients at no cost.
However, the ACA's preventive care provisions are now under review at the U.S. Supreme Court, and a ruling is expected soon.
More information
The U.S. Department of Health & Human Services has more on pre-exposure prophylaxis.
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