Undetectable Viral Load and the Decision to Engage in Unprotected Anal Intercourse Among HIV-positive MSM

Overview

Journal AIDS Behav

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2013 Mar 26

PMID 23525838

Citations 11

Authors

Wijnand van den Boom

Ineke G Stolte

Robert Witlox

Theo Sandfort

Maria Prins

Udi Davidovich

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

We investigated how often HIV-positive MSM (n = 177) decide to engage in unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) because they have an undetectable viral load (UVL). We found that 20-57% of the UAI acts were related to having UVL, varying by partner type and partner HIV status. Among HIV-concordant partners, consideration of UVL before engaging in UAI was more prevalent with sex buddies (55%) than with casual partners (20%), although marginally significant (p = 0.051). Among HIV-discordant partners, no significant difference was found in the frequency of UVL considerations before engaging in UAI: 40% with sex buddies versus 57% with casual partners. Interestingly, while the decision to engage in UAI based on UVL was frequently discussed with HIV-concordant partners (>91%), it was only discussed with HIV-discordant partners in 13-25% of the UAI cases (according to partner type), suggesting that the decision was mostly unilateral.

Citing Articles

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