Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Nov;23(10):1108-1112.
doi: 10.1111/hiv.13310. Epub 2022 Mar 29.

Immediate PrEP when accessing PEP: A service evaluation

Beatrice Cockbain  1 , Gary Whitlock  1 ; Dean Street Collaborative Group
Collaborators, Affiliations
Free article

Immediate PrEP when accessing PEP: A service evaluation

Beatrice Cockbain et al. HIV Med. 2022 Nov.
Free article

Abstract

Objectives: In January 2021, 56 Dean Street, a London sexual health clinic, changed clinic policy so that all those attending for post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) were offered quick-start opt-out pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) following completion of the 28-day PEP course. We assessed the uptake of this quick-start PrEP in service users attending for PEP.

Methods: We undertook a case note review of those who received PEP during the 2-week period from 17 February to 1 March 2021, assessing the data and comparing them to those from the same period in 2020 (15 February-28 February 2020) before quick-start opt-out PrEP was introduced.

Results: The number of service users receiving PEP was 82 in 2020 and 42 in 2021, of which an unmet PrEP need was demonstrated in 81.7% (67/82) in 2020 and 78.6% (33/42) in 2021 (p = 0.8106). Of those with an unmet need, a higher proportion (97.0% [32/33]) were offered PrEP in 2021 following the introduction of opt-out PrEP compared with the 85.1% (57/67) in 2020 (p = 0.0953). Of those eligible for PrEP who were offered it during their PEP consultation, 53.1% (17/32) in 2021 were dispensed PrEP compared with 17.5% (10/57) in 2020 (p = 0.0007).

Conclusion: Since the introduction of quick-start opt-out PrEP, uptake in eligible candidates increased from 17.5% to 53.1%. This suggests that this strategy was acceptable to service users.

Keywords: HIV; PEP; PrEP; post exposure prophylaxis; pre-exposure prophylaxis.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

REFERENCES

    1. Kirby T. PrEP finally approved on NHS in England. Lancet. 2020;395(10229):1025. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30720-0
    1. Atim M, Girometti N, Hyndman I, et al. Post-exposure prophylaxis in the era of pre-exposure prophylaxis. HIV Med. 2020;21(10):668-670. doi:10.1111/hiv.12917
    1. Richardson D, Nichols K, Hughes R, Smith H, Fitzpatrick C, Cresswell F. The characteristics of men who have sex with men (MSM) using post-exposure prophylaxis for sexual exposure (PEPSE) in the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) era. HIV Med. 2021;1-5. doi:10.1111/hiv.13201
    1. O'Byrne P, Orser L, Vandyk A. Immediate PrEP after PEP: results from an observational nurse-led PEP2PrEP study. J Int Assoc Provid AIDS Care. 2020;19:2325958220939763. doi:10.1177/2325958220939763
    1. Whitlock G, McCormack C, Fearnley J, McOwan A. High HIV incidence in men who have sex with men attending for postexposure prophylaxis: a service evaluation. Sex Transm Infect. 2017; 93 (3): 214-216. doi:10.1136/sextrans-2016-052623

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources