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Undetectable or unknown? A longitudinal event-level analysis on disclosure of HIV serostatus and undetectability among gay, bisexual, and other Men who have Sex with Men (gbMSM) in metro Vancouver

Undetectable or unknown? A longitudinal event-level analysis on disclosure of HIV serostatus and undetectability among gay, bisexual, and other Men who have Sex with Men (gbMSM) in metro Vancouver
Undetectable or unknown? A longitudinal event-level analysis on disclosure of HIV serostatus and undetectability among gay, bisexual, and other Men who have Sex with Men (gbMSM) in metro Vancouver

We examined temporal trends and factors associated with reporting partner’s serostatus and viral load among a sample of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) in Vancouver, Canada. Participants were recruited using respondent-driven sampling and we collected prospective cohort data from 09/2014 to 02/2017 using a computer-assisted questionnaire and nurse-administered STI/HIV testing. Our study included 481 participants reporting on 3780 sexual events. Among HIV-negative/unknown gbMSM we found a trend towards decreased proportions of sexual events reporting an unknown HIV-status partner (42–19%; p = < 0.001) and found increased proportions among gbMSM living with HIV (11–27%; p = 0.043). More participants living with HIV reported sex with undetectable partners, compared to HIV-negative/unknown participants (14.8% versus 5%). Our multivariable model found that compared with unknown status partners, undetectable partners were older, were from longer sexual relationships and were more likely to engage in condomless anal sex. Findings indicate that HIV-negative gbMSM seem more aware of the serostatus of their partners over time, but knowledge of partners’ viral load over time was not significant. Further research should assess the degree to which new campaigns such as Undetectable = Untransmittable (U = U) are associated with discussions about HIV disclosure and viral load status.

GbMSM, HIV disclosure, Serostatus, U = U, Undetectable
1090-7165
2630-2643
Sang, Jordan
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Lachowsky, Nathan J.
87634bac-759c-4e7b-9f16-22fb37e87cf6
Wang, Lu
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Bacani, Nicanor
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Howard, Terry
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Blackwell, Everett
cd018bc0-abe8-417d-9d7d-c9f91dc25223
Lal, Allen
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Armstrong, Heather
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Card, Kiffer George
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Crosby, Richard
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Roth, Eric Abella
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Hogg, Robert S.
3f71ad69-9c8a-4732-bb86-4aa0652e1f3f
Moore, David
3b5e246f-616d-4a9d-9f14-3e33911a8358
Sang, Jordan
c9b86700-43d2-43c3-8d02-0a5a57275d16
Lachowsky, Nathan J.
87634bac-759c-4e7b-9f16-22fb37e87cf6
Wang, Lu
22f5289e-46aa-418f-bdf7-95b76c40d4ee
Bacani, Nicanor
87b35d3e-a58f-4cb5-bcc9-05afc090b95e
Howard, Terry
3a2a59d2-d72a-4d90-b69d-3e2155a1e410
Blackwell, Everett
cd018bc0-abe8-417d-9d7d-c9f91dc25223
Lal, Allen
14779be7-8c66-4eb3-b3de-04a2a74886f0
Armstrong, Heather
3dc9c223-1a61-47ad-ab0b-50d06cddf4f2
Card, Kiffer George
ec0ab99c-264d-4c24-b847-7df8c988d786
Crosby, Richard
fd4bd8c8-5404-4d67-9746-d8843f54dd9f
Roth, Eric Abella
4ae36281-aeee-4433-a54c-4ea56db161c9
Hogg, Robert S.
3f71ad69-9c8a-4732-bb86-4aa0652e1f3f
Moore, David
3b5e246f-616d-4a9d-9f14-3e33911a8358

Sang, Jordan, Lachowsky, Nathan J., Wang, Lu, Bacani, Nicanor, Howard, Terry, Blackwell, Everett, Lal, Allen, Armstrong, Heather, Card, Kiffer George, Crosby, Richard, Roth, Eric Abella, Hogg, Robert S. and Moore, David (2021) Undetectable or unknown? A longitudinal event-level analysis on disclosure of HIV serostatus and undetectability among gay, bisexual, and other Men who have Sex with Men (gbMSM) in metro Vancouver. AIDS and Behavior, 25 (8), 2630-2643. (doi:10.1007/s10461-021-03224-w).

Record type: Article

Abstract

We examined temporal trends and factors associated with reporting partner’s serostatus and viral load among a sample of gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM) in Vancouver, Canada. Participants were recruited using respondent-driven sampling and we collected prospective cohort data from 09/2014 to 02/2017 using a computer-assisted questionnaire and nurse-administered STI/HIV testing. Our study included 481 participants reporting on 3780 sexual events. Among HIV-negative/unknown gbMSM we found a trend towards decreased proportions of sexual events reporting an unknown HIV-status partner (42–19%; p = < 0.001) and found increased proportions among gbMSM living with HIV (11–27%; p = 0.043). More participants living with HIV reported sex with undetectable partners, compared to HIV-negative/unknown participants (14.8% versus 5%). Our multivariable model found that compared with unknown status partners, undetectable partners were older, were from longer sexual relationships and were more likely to engage in condomless anal sex. Findings indicate that HIV-negative gbMSM seem more aware of the serostatus of their partners over time, but knowledge of partners’ viral load over time was not significant. Further research should assess the degree to which new campaigns such as Undetectable = Untransmittable (U = U) are associated with discussions about HIV disclosure and viral load status.

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Sang_et_al_2021_Undetectable_or_Unknown_final_accepted_manuscript (1) - Accepted Manuscript
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Accepted/In Press date: 6 March 2021
e-pub ahead of print date: 23 March 2021
Published date: August 2021
Additional Information: Funding Information: We would like to thank the Momentum Health Study participants, office staff and community advisory board as well as our community partners: Health Initiative for Men, YouthCO HIV & Hep C Society, and Positive Living Society of BC. This work was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA031055-01A1) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP-107544, FDN-143342, PJT-153139). NJL was supported by a CANFAR/CTN Postdoctoral Fellowship Award. HLA was supported by a Postdoctoral Fellowship award from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grant #MFE-152443). DMM and NJL are supported by Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar Awards (#5209, #16863). KGC is supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Health Systems Impact Fellowship award, a Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Trainee award, and a Canadian HIV Trials Network/Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research Postdoctoral Fellowship award. Publisher Copyright: © 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Keywords: GbMSM, HIV disclosure, Serostatus, U = U, Undetectable

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 447745
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/447745
ISSN: 1090-7165
PURE UUID: ee6a0f04-1eb3-4b4a-b05d-85678d7c8ffc
ORCID for Heather Armstrong: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-1071-8644

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Date deposited: 19 Mar 2021 17:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 06:25

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Contributors

Author: Jordan Sang
Author: Nathan J. Lachowsky
Author: Lu Wang
Author: Nicanor Bacani
Author: Terry Howard
Author: Everett Blackwell
Author: Allen Lal
Author: Kiffer George Card
Author: Richard Crosby
Author: Eric Abella Roth
Author: Robert S. Hogg
Author: David Moore

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