Nkhoma, K;
Ahmed, A;
Alli, Z;
Sherr, L;
Harding, R;
(2019)
Does sexual behaviour of people with HIV reflect antiretroviral therapy as a preventive strategy? A cross-sectional study among outpatients in Kenya.
BMC Public Health
, 19
, Article 1254. 10.1186/s12889-019-7581-8.
Preview |
Text
s12889-019-7581-8.pdf - Published Version Download (608kB) | Preview |
Abstract
Background: The World Health Organisation (WHO) advocates early initiation of HIV treatment as a prevention strategy among people living with HIV. There is strong evidence for the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) as a preventive tool for HIV transmission. We aimed to determine the sexual behaviour of HIV outpatients and assess if it reflects the current preventive strategy for HIV transmission. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study among adult (aged at least 18 years) patients with confirmed HIV diagnosis, and aware of their diagnosis, attending HIV outpatient care in Kenya. Data were gathered through selfreport (using validated questionnaires) and file extraction. Multivariate logistic regression assessed the association between sexual risk taking behaviour controlling for gender, HIV clinical stage, HIV treatment status, Tuberculosis (TB) treatment status, and CD4 count. Results: We recruited n = 400 participants (n = 280[70%] female gender). The mean age was 39.4 (SD = 9.9) years. The mean CD4 count was 393.7 (SD = 238.2) and ranged from 2 to 1470 cells/mm3 . N = 61 (15.64%) were on TB treatment. The majority (n = 366, 91.5%) were on ART. Just over half (n = 202, 50.5%) reported having a sexual partner. Of these n = 33 (16.1%) reported having unprotected sexual intercourse with a person of unknown HIV status in the previous 3 months. Multivariate analysis showed that participants not on ART (HIV treatment) were more likely to report unprotected sexual intercourse compared to those who were on ART (odds ratio .25, 95% CI .09 to .69; P = 0.007). Participants at early stage of HIV infection (stages 1/2) were more likely to report unprotected sexual intercourse compared to participants at advanced HIV infection (stages 3/4) (odds ratio .34, 95% CI .13 to .92; P = 0.035). Males participants were more likely to be involved in sexual risk taking behaviours compared to female participants (odds ratio .36, 95% CI .16 to .82; P = 0.015). TB treatment status, and CD4 count were not significantly associated with sexual risk taking. Conclusion: Participants not on ART have more unprotected sexual intercourse than those who are on ART. This calls for the need to scale up coverage and early ART initiation in order to reduce transmission of HIV.
Type: | Article |
---|---|
Title: | Does sexual behaviour of people with HIV reflect antiretroviral therapy as a preventive strategy? A cross-sectional study among outpatients in Kenya |
Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
DOI: | 10.1186/s12889-019-7581-8 |
Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7581-8 |
Language: | English |
Additional information: | This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
Keywords: | Sexual risk taking, HIV/AIDS, Antiretroviral therapy |
UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health > Infection and Population Health |
URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10083866 |
Archive Staff Only
View Item |