Parallel reductions in anxiety and HIV-related worry among pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users over time

The threat of HIV has been proposed as a major contributing factor to the disproportionately higher rates of anxiety among gay and bisexual men compared to their heterosexual counterparts. The current study examined 12-month trajectories of anxiety symptoms and concomitant HIV-related worry among a cohort of preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users, compared to a comparison cohort who were not taking PrEP.

SPARK was a community-based PrEP demonstration project conducted between February 2014 and May 2017. Self-report anxiety and worry data were collected from PrEP patients (n = 300) quarterly, and from non-PrEP patients (n = 131) at baseline, 3, and 12 months. We ran a series of unconditional latent growth curve models (LGCMs) to examine changes in anxiety and HIV worry over the 12-month study period, followed by parallel process LGCMs to examine the association between both intercepts and growth factors, adjusting for demographic factors.

In a parallel process model, both an association between baseline levels of HIV worry and anxiety decreases in both variables over time among PrEP users but not among non-PrEP users. Additionally, a multigroup analysis was conducted, restricting both groups to 3 time points, and forcing a comparison of slopes between the 2 groups. This analysis revealed that there was no difference in the anxiety slopes between the 2 cohorts. However, the HIV worry slope remained significantly different among the PrEP cohort compared to the non-PrEP cohort.

These data provide some of the first quantitative evidence for the potential of PrEP to reduce both HIV worry and anxiety symptoms. Emphasizing positive mental health "side effects" of PrEP may be a strategy for engaging priority populations in biomedical HIV prevention. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).