PrEP Prescription Increased by 976% Over 2 Years in New York City
Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) prescription rates increased by 976% from 2014 to 2016 across ambulatory care practices in New York City, according to a recent study.
More information is needed regarding access to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) PrEP in order to inform comprehensive scale-up efforts in New York City.
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For their study, the researchers assessed electronic health records from Q1 2014 to Q2 2016 via the New York City Health Department’s “Hub.” Additionally, data from 602 practices were evaluated and categorized quarterly according to patient factors like age, sex, and race/ethnicity. Practice factors including location, type of practice, number of infectious disease specialists, and proportions of patients from high-poverty neighborhoods were also evaluated.
The researchers defined PrEP prescription as a prescription of tenofovir/emtricitabine without other antiretrovirals or diagnoses of HIV, HIV-related opportunistic infections, or hepatitis B.
Results indicated that PrEP prescription had increased by 976% from Q1 2014 to Q2 2016 (38.9 per 105 vs 418.5 per 105). Increases in PrEP prescription had been significant among both men and women. According to multivariate analysis, PrEP prescription was associated with several patient factors, including younger age and white race/ethnicity; and several practice factors, including location in Manhattan, community health centers (CHCs), and onsite infectious disease specialists.
The researchers noted that, although practices with more patients from high-poverty neighborhoods were initially less likely to prescribe PrEP, this association had weakened over time.
“PrEP prescription increased over 9-fold from 2014-2016 among NYC ambulatory care practices, but disparities persisted,” the researchers concluded. “While efforts to promote PrEP may have helped attenuate the disparity by neighborhood poverty of the patient population, continued work may be needed to facilitate PrEP access for women, persons of color, and for those in care at non-CHCs or practices outside of Manhattan.”
—Christina Vogt
Reference:
Salcuni P, Smolen J, Jain S, Myers J, Edelstein Z. Trends and associations with PrEP prescription among 602 New York City (NYC) ambulatory care practices, 2014-16. Paper presented at: ID Week 2017; October 4-8, 2017; San Diego, CA. https://idsa.confex.com/idsa/2017/webprogram/Paper63138.html.