STI testing low among gay, bisexual men in initial private health facility visit
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Key takeaways:
- Only about half of gay or bisexual men received the recommended STI testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis at their first visit.
- Of those with no documented HIV, PrEP use and initiation were low.
Only about half of gay or bisexual men received recommended sexually transmitted infection testing at their initial visit to a private, outpatient facility, researchers reported.
“While there are many existing studies on routine sexually transmitted infections (STIs)/HIV testing and HIV PrEP use among gay and bisexual men in public or STI clinics, there are less studies on this topic in private settings,” Guoyu Tao, PhD, health scientist in CDC’s Division of STD Prevention, told Healio.
“We aimed to address that information gap by analyzing the Healthverity dataset, a large administrative dataset that is routinely updated in private settings,” Tao said.
Using Healthverity — a large administrative dataset — the researchers assessed STI and HIV testing, chlamydia and gonorrhea positivity by specimen type, and HIV PrEP use among men who have sex with men (MSM) and men who have sex with men and women (MSMW) at their first visits from 2019 through 2022.
Among more than 81,000 MSM and MSMW aged 15 to 64 years who received care in private, outpatient settings, only 57.9%, 58.1, and 52.2% received the recommended testing for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis, respectively, at their index appointment. Among patients with data available on anatomic site testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea, only 25% were tested from all three recommended anatomic sites (rectal, pharyngeal and urogenital), whereas 48% were tested from genital site only.
Additionally, the study showed that among patients with no documented HIV, more than half (55.5%) were tested for HIV at their first visit. However, PrEP use and initiation were much lower in comparison (30.9% and 18.1%, respectively).
Tao said these results suggest that more works needs to be done in private health care settings to connect these patients to the recommended testing and referral services that they may need.
“When it comes to reaching gay and bisexual men with HIV and STI prevention services, we can’t just depend on STI/public clinic settings,” Tao said. “Providers in private settings also have a role to play, which starts with incorporating questions about patients’ sexual history into routine care.”
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Tao G, et al. Clin Infect Dis. 2024;doi:10.1093/cid/ciae314.
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