PHILADELPHIA — HIV remains a persistent health concern in the United States, with more than 36,000 new diagnoses in 2021, according to a new study noting that HIV preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended for those at increased risk for infection.
“The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest single provider of HIV care in the US, but PrEP uptake among VHA patients has remained modest, especially among birth sex females, mirroring the general US population,” wrote the study team led by researchers from the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Center for Health Equity, Research & Promotion (CHERP).
In a report in AIDS Research & Therapy, the authors pointed out, “This is especially concerning, because women are more vulnerable to HIV infection than men, since receptive anal or vaginal sex is riskier than insertive sex, and given persisting societal gender inequalities that limit women’s autonomy.”1
The goal of their study was to describe the cohort of women prescribed PrEP at the VHA from Jan. 1, 2012, and June 30, 2022, that was defined as receiving scripts for tenofovir disoproxil fumarate and emtricitabine (TDF/FTC) or tenofovir alafenamide and emtricitabine (TAF/FTC) for 30 days or more.
Results indicated that 417 women were prescribed PrEP over the study period and that the most substantial change over time in PrEP prescribing occurred among women aged 18-24, in Other race groups and in the Western United States.
“Though PrEP prescribing increased since its approval, more research is needed to identify barriers and expand PrEP access for women veterans,” according to the study.
Background information in the article advised that considerable disparities exist in PrEP uptake, especially among Black and Hispanic women, whose rates of infection are drastically higher as compared with white women.
“Missed opportunities to prevent HIV infection among women also have multigenerational consequences, given that HIV PrEP is a highly effective tool for preventing HIV infection and mother-to-infant transmission among women who are trying to conceive, pregnant, or breastfeeding,” the authors added. “As compared with non-Veterans, prevalence of military sexual trauma, intimate partner violence and mental health diagnoses may increase risk of HIV infection among women veterans.
- Keddem S, Broderick K, Van Epps P, Roberts CB, Chhatre S, Beste LA. Brief communication: The cohort of women prescribed HIV PrEP at the Veterans Health Administration. AIDS Res Ther. 2024 Nov 1;21(1):78. doi: 10.1186/s12981-024-00670-z. PMID: 39487544; PMCID: PMC11529397.
