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PS01 – POSTER VIEWING SESSION – MONDAY
Monday, July 15, 2019 5:45 PM – 7:00 PM
P113 Risk behaviors following hepatitis c treatment among gay and bisexual men living with HIV in melbourne, australia
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  1. Brendan Harney1,
  2. Mark Stoové1,
  3. Rachel Sacks-Davis1,
  4. Daniela Van Santen1,
  5. Christopher Fairley2,
  6. Nicholas Medland2,
  7. Mark O’Reilly3,
  8. Richard Moore4,
  9. Bk Tee5,
  10. Joseph Sasadeusz6,
  11. David Iser7,
  12. Janine Roney7,
  13. Gail Matthews8,
  14. Ed Gane9,
  15. Maria Prins10,
  16. Margaret Hellard1,
  17. Joseph Doyle7
  1. 1Burnet Institute, Disease Elimination Program, Melbourne, Australia
  2. 2Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Melbourne, Australia
  3. 3Prahran Market Clinic, Prahran, Australia
  4. 4Northside Clinic, Fitzroy North, Australia
  5. 5Centre Clinic, St Kilda, Australia
  6. 6Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Australia
  7. 7Alfred Health and Monash University, Department of Infectious Diseases, Melbourne, Australia
  8. 8Kirby Institute, Sydney, Australia
  9. 9Auckland City Hospital, Auckland, New Zealand
  10. 10Public Health Service of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

Abstract

Background Hepatitis C virus (HCV) elimination among gay and bisexual men (GBM) living with HIV is feasible in many high-income countries. There is concern that risk behaviours following treatment may lead to reinfection and adversely impact HCV elimination goals. We examined risk behaviours prior to and following HCV treatment commencement among sexually active GBM living with HIV.

Methods Data were drawn from co-EC, a prospective study aiming to treat and eliminate HCV among people living with HIV. Pre and post-HCV treatment commencement changes in self-reported sexual and injecting drug-related behaviours among sexually active GBM attending primary and tertiary care clinics in Melbourne were assessed using McNemar’s test. Modified Poisson regression with robust variance was used to examine factors associated with risk behaviours following treatment commencement.

Results Of 120 males who completed both a pre and post-treatment commencement questionnaire, 90 reported ≥1 male sex partner before or after treatment commencement. Among these 90 sexually active GBM, there was no significant change pre- to post-treatment in condom-less anal intercourse with casual partners (52.5%/56.6%, p 0.513) or injecting drug use (41.2%/45.9%, p 0.344), but a significant decrease in group sex (34.4%/21.1%, p 0.011). Post-treatment commencement, condom-less intercourse (adjusted prevalence ratio (aPR) 1.80, 95%CI 1.07–3.03, p 0.026) and group sex (aPR 4.53, 95%CI 1.76–11.67, p 0.002) was highest amongst those who had reported these behaviours pre-treatment. Post-treatment commencement, injecting drug use was associated with the use of crystal methamphetamine during follow-up (aPR 4.36, 95%CI 1.27–14.94, p 0.019).

Conclusion HCV-related risk behaviours were common among sexually active GBM before and after HCV treatment and primarily occurred among the same men. There was no significant evidence of increasing risk behaviour following treatment. More frequent post-treatment HCV testing may be justified among GBM engaging in these behaviours to identify potential HCV reinfection and provide prompt re-treatment to prevent further transmission.

Disclosure No significant relationships.

  • HIV

https://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2019-sti.297

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