Point-of-Care Sexually Transmitted Infection Testing Improves HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis Initiation in Pregnant Women in Antenatal Care in Cape Town, South Africa, 2019 to 2021.
Sex Transm Dis
; 50(2): 92-97, 2023 02 01.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36630416
Preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) programs present a platform for diagnostic sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing in low- and middle-income countries, and availability of targeted STI testing has been hypothesized to influence PrEP use. We evaluated the association of STI testing modality and PrEP uptake among pregnant women in antenatal care. We enrolled pregnant, HIV-uninfected women (16 years or older) at their first antenatal visit with follow-up through 12 months postpartum. Women were offered oral PrEP and tested for Chlamydia trachomatis and Neisseria gonorrhoeae using a point-of-care (POC; Cepheid, August 2019November 2020) or laboratory-based (Thermofisher, December 2020October 2021) test. We compared the proportion of women initiating and continuing PrEP by STI test adjusting for confounders. We evaluated 1194 women (median age, 26 years [interquartile range, 2231 years]) with an STI result (46% POC and 54% laboratory-based). The prevalence of any STI was the same in POC-tested (28%) and laboratory-tested (28%) women25% versus 23% for C. trachomatis ( P = 0.35) and 7% versus 9% for N. gonorrhoeae ( P = 0.11). Mean time from testing to result was 0 day for POC and 26 days for laboratory testing, and mean time from testing to treatment was 3 days for POC and 38 days for laboratory testing. Receiving a POC STI test was associated with higher PrEP initiation compared with women receiving a laboratory-based test (90% vs. 78%; adjusted odds ratio, 2.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.52.9), controlling for age, gravidity, STI diagnosis, intimate partner violence, gestational age, employment, HIV risk perception, and cohabiting status. Point-of-care STI testing, offering same-day results and treatment initiation, may increase PrEP initiation among pregnant women in antenatal care.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Gonorrhea
/
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
/
HIV Infections
/
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
Type of study:
Diagnostic_studies
/
Prevalence_studies
/
Risk_factors_studies
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Pregnancy
Country/Region as subject:
Africa
Language:
En
Journal:
Sex Transm Dis
Year:
2023
Document type:
Article