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HIV Treatment Knowledge in the Context of “Treatment as Prevention” (TasP)

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Abstract

According to 2012 universal ART guidelines, as part of “treatment as prevention” (TasP), all people living with HIV (PLWH) should immediately initiate antiretroviral therapy post-diagnosis to facilitate viral suppression. PLWH who are virally suppressed have no risk of sexually transmitting HIV. This study used descriptive analysis of quantitative data (N = 99) and thematic analysis of qualitative interviews (n = 36) to compare participants recruited from a hospital-based detoxification (detox) unit, largely diagnosed with HIV pre-2012 (n = 63) vs. those recruited from public, urban sexual health clinics (SHCs), mainly diagnosed in 2012 or later (n = 36). Detox participants were significantly more knowledgeable than SHC participants about HIV treatment, except regarding TasP. SHC participants’ desire for rapid linkage to care and ART initiation was in line with 2012 universal ART guidelines and TasP messaging regarding viral suppression. More targeted messaging to PLWH pre-2012 could ensure that all PLWH benefit from scientific advances in HIV treatment.

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Acknowledgements

Dr. Margaret Paschen-Wolff was supported by a training grant (T32 MH019139; PI: Theodorus Sandfort, Ph.D.) from the National Institute of Mental Health at the HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at the NY State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University (P30-MH43520; Center Principal Investigator: Robert Remien, Ph.D.). The authors would like to acknowledge our research assistants (Laurel Weaver, Jeannie Ortiz, and Martha Nelson) and our study participants.

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute on Drug Abuse R01 DA035707 (Des Jarlais and Campbell) and R01 DA003574 (Des Jarlais) and National Institute of Mental Health T32 MH019139 (Sandfort).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division on Substance Use Disorders, Department of Psychiatry, Columbia University Irving Medical Center at New York State Psychiatric Institute, 1051 Riverside Drive, Box 120, New York, NY, 10032, USA

    Margaret M. Paschen-Wolff & Aimee N. C. Campbell

  2. Division of Gender, Sexuality, and Health, Department of Psychiatry, HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Susan Tross

  3. Bureau of Sexually Transmitted Infections, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY, USA

    Michael Castro & Christine Borges

  4. Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, New York University School of Global Public Health, New York, NY, USA

    Hayley Berg & Don Des Jarlais

  5. Bureau of HIV Prevention and Control, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Long Island City, NY, USA

    Sarah Braunstein

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  1. Margaret M. Paschen-Wolff
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Correspondence to Margaret M. Paschen-Wolff.

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The authors (Paschen-Wolff, Campbell, Tross, Castro, Berg, Braunstein, Borges, and Des Jarlais) declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Paschen-Wolff, M.M., Campbell, A.N.C., Tross, S. et al. HIV Treatment Knowledge in the Context of “Treatment as Prevention” (TasP). AIDS Behav 24, 2984–2994 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-020-02849-7

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