A Quantitative Intersectionality Analysis of HIV/STI Prevention and Healthcare Access Among Transgender and Nonbinary People.

BACKGROUND: Transgender and nonbinary people experience substantial barriers to accessing healthcare, including prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (HIV/STI), due to structural inequities. We examined differences in insurance, HIV/STI prevalence, testing, and preexposure prophylaxis use among transgender and nonbinary people living in Washington State by race and ethnicity and gender. METHODS: We pooled data from five 2019-2021 Washington State HIV/STI surveillance data sources to obtain a large and diverse sample of 1648 transgender and nonbinary participants. We calculated the risk difference (RD) for each outcome and used Poisson regression to estimate a surrogate measure of additive interaction-attributable proportion (AP)-that measures the proportion of the excess prevalence of the outcome observed at the intersection of gendered and racialized experience, beyond that expected from gender or race and ethnicity alone. RESULTS: Participants reported overall high levels of poverty (29% incomes <$15,000 and 7% unstable housing). Certain groups, especially racial/ethnic minority transgender women, were disproportionately impacted by HIV/STIs (RDs from 20% to 43% and APs from 50% to 85%) and less likely to currently have insurance (RDs from 25% to 39% and APs from 74% to 93%) than that expected based on gendered or racialized experience alone. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings highlight the heterogeneity in insurance access, HIV/STI positivity, and prevention utilization within transgender communities. We observed that a large proportion of increased HIV/STI prevalence among racial/ethnic minority transgender women was attributable to the intersection of gender and race and ethnicity. Our findings highlight the importance of trans-inclusive models of HIV/STI prevention that address multilevel barriers rooted in cissexism and structural racism.

Heterogeneity in HIV/Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevalence and Prevention Among the Partners of Transgender and Nonbinary People.

BACKGROUND: Transgender and nonbinary (TNB) people are diverse in their sexual orientation and partnerships. We describe the epidemiology of HIV/sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevalence and prevention utilization among the partners of TNB people in Washington State. METHODS: We pooled data from five 2017 to 2021 cross-sectional HIV surveillance data sources to generate a large sample of TNB people and cisgender people who had a TNB partner in the past year. We described characteristics of recent partners of trans women, trans men, and nonbinary people and used Poisson regression to assess if having a TNB partner was associated with self-reported HIV/STIs prevalence, testing, and preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use. RESULTS: Our analysis included 360 trans women, 316 trans men, 963 nonbinary people, 2896 cis women, and 7540 cis men. Overall, 9% of sexual minority cis men, 13% of sexual minority cis women, and 36% of TNB participants reported having any TNB partners. There was significant heterogeneity in HIV/STI prevalence, testing, and PrEP use among the partners of TNB people by study participant gender and the gender of their sex partners. In regression models, having a TNB partner was associated with a higher likelihood of HIV/STI testing and PrEP use but was not associated with higher HIV prevalence. CONCLUSIONS: We observed significant heterogeneity in HIV/STI prevalence and preventative behaviors among the partners of TNB people. Given that TNB people are diverse in their sexual partnerships, there is a need to better understand individual-, dyad-, and structural-level factors that facilitate HIV/STI prevention across these diverse partnerships.