Developments highlight National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day

The CDC has reported April 10 is National Youth HIV & AIDS Awareness Day, which recognizes the impact of the HIV/AIDS epidemic on younger people.

The annual observance was created in 2013 as a public education initiative, with the CDC reporting that one in five new HIV diagnoses in the United states were in people aged 13-24 years. Research published in Infectious Disease in Children has included findings that pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP)is safe and effective for adolescent men, and that a dapivirine vaginal ring was safe for HIV prevention in teenagers:

HIV, STI intervention for teens on probation reduces sexual risk behaviors

Providing an intervention intended to prevent HIV, STIs, substance use and mental health concerns to youth placed on probation can reduce sexual risk behaviors in juvenile offenders, according to findings published in Health Psychology.

“A number of factors contribute to young offenders’ increased risk for HIV. Many of these youths experience a host of structural factors that lead to mental health problems and substance use such as poverty, crime and neighborhood disadvantages,” Geri R. Donenberg, PhD, professor in the departments of medicine and psychology at the University of Illinois, Chicago, told Infectious Diseases in Children. “Ample evidence links mental health problems and substance use with high-risk sexual behavior.” Read more

Anne M. Neilan

Routine HIV screening at age 25 improves clinical outcomes

A one-time routine HIV screening at 25 years of age was cost-effective and led to better clinical outcomes among teenagers and young adults without identified HIV risk factors, according to findings published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

Current CDC guidelines recommend one-time HIV screening for everyone between the ages of 13 to 64 years.

“Our results indicate that focusing screening on teens 18 or younger without risk factors would be a less efficient use of a one-time screen than screening at a later age,” Anne M. Neilan, MD, MPH, division of infectious diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital said in the interview. Read more

PrEP safe, effective for teens at risk for HIV, yet adherence remains low

Although pre-exposure prophylaxis was found to be safe and well tolerated among adolescent men who have sex with men at increased risk of HIV, rates of medication adherence decreased over time.

“Several open-label clinical trials and demonstration projects have supported the effectiveness of administering daily oral pre-exposure prophylaxis based on three studies that demonstrated efficacy for preventing HIV,” Sybil G. Hosek, PhD, from the Stroger Hospital of Cook County, and colleagues wrote. “None of these clinical trials included adolescent participants younger than 18 years, precluding regulatory agencies from considering the approval of tenofovir disoproxil fumarate/emtricitabine use for minors.” Read more

Monthly vitamin D improves lumbar spine bone density in youth with HIV

Monthly doses of vitamin D increased bone density in HIV-infected youth who were receiving Viread as part of their combination antiretroviral therapy, or cART, according to study results.

Peter L. Havens, MD, HIV program director at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, and colleagues compared the effects of a 50,000 IU dose of vitamin D₃ taken every 4 weeks for 48 weeks against placebo in adolescent and young adult patients being chronically treated with Viread (tenofovir disoproxil fumarate, Gilead Sciences). With Perspective. Read more

Dapivirine vaginal ring safe, acceptable for HIV prevention in teens

A monthly vaginal ring containing the antiretroviral dapivirine has demonstrated efficacy in girls younger than 18 years, according to phase 2a study results presented at the IAS Conference on HIV Science.

“If the ring is approved for women older than age 18, it’s imperative that we have the data in hand to show that the ring is safe to use in younger women as well,” Sharon Hillier, PhD, professor and vice chair of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, said in a press release. Read more

Reference: https://www.cdc.gov/features/youth-hiv-aids/index.html