Factors Predicting Uptake of Sexually Transmitted Infections Testing among Men Who Have Sex with Men Who Are “Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Tourists”—An Observational Prospective Cohort Study

Zixin Wang, Yuan Fang, Natthakhet Yaemim, Kai J. Jonas, Andrew Chidgey, Mary Ip, Tommy Cheng and Joseph T. F. Lau
Additional contact information
Zixin Wang: JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Yuan Fang: Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Natthakhet Yaemim: Pulse Clinic, Bangkok, Thailand
Kai J. Jonas: Department of Work and Social Psychology, Maastricht University, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands
Andrew Chidgey: AIDS Concern, Hong Kong, China
Mary Ip: JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Tommy Cheng: JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Joseph T. F. Lau: JC School of Public Health and Primary Care, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 7, 1-15

Abstract: The term “Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) tourists” refers to individuals who obtain PrEP in other countries and use it in their home countries. A prospective observational cohort study was conducted among a group of men who have sex with men (MSM) who obtained PrEP in private clinics in Thailand and used it in Hong Kong. Participants completed two web-based self-administered surveys when obtaining PrEP in Thailand and three months afterwards. Out of 110 participants at baseline, 67 completed the follow-up. The prevalence of sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing was 47.8% during the follow-up period. Eleven participants received an STI diagnosis, and seven of them were incident infections in the past three months. Participants who perceived a higher chance for STI infection (adjusted odds ratios (AOR): 1.90, 95% CI: 1.00, 3.75) and reported higher intention to take up STI testing at baseline (AOR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.05, 2.50) were more likely to receive STI testing during the follow-up period. Baseline perceptions that service providers would think they were having risky behaviors because of PrEP use was negatively associated with the dependent variable (AOR: 0.51, 95% CI: 0.31, 0.86). Service planning and health promotion related to STI testing is needed for MSM “PrEP tourists”.

Keywords: PrEP tourists; men who have sex with men; STI testing; observational prospective cohort study (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3582/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/7/3582/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:7:p:3582-:d:526833

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().