HIV self-testing in Spain: A valuable testing option for men-who-have-sex-with-men who have never tested for HIV.

Abstract

BackgroundWe assessed the capacity of HIV self-testing to promote testing among untested men who have sex with men (MSM) and determined the most benefited subpopulations.MethodsAn online questionnaire was disseminated on several gay websites in Spain from September 2012 to April 2013. We used Poisson regression to estimate factors associated with the intention to use self-testing if already available. Among those who reported intention of use, we assessed several aspects related to the testing and linkage to care process by type of barrier reported: low perceived risk (LR), structural barriers (SB) and fear of testing positive (FTP).ResultsOf 2589 never-tested MSM, 83% would have used self-testing if already available. Intention of use was associated with age ≥30 (adj.PR, 95%CI: 1.05, 1.01-1.10), having had protected (adj.PR, 95%CI: 1.15, 1.02-1.30) or unprotected (adj.PR, 95%CI: 1.21, 1.07-1.37) anal intercourse and reporting FTP (adj.PR, 95%CI: 1.12, 1.05-1.20) or SB to access HIV testing (adj.PR, 95%CI: 1.23, 1.19-1.28). Among those who reported intention of using a self-testi, 78.3% declared it their preferred option (83.8% in the SB group; pConclusionHIV self-testing in Spain has the potential of becoming a highly used testing methodology for untested MSM and could represent the gateway to testing especially among older, at risk MSM who report SB or FTP as main barriers to testing.