Data from: Understanding willingness to use oral pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention among men who have sex with men in China

Background: Oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is recommended as an
additional prevention choice for men who have sex with men (MSM) at
substantial risk of HIV. The aim of this study was to evaluate the extent,
and reasons, for MSM’s willingness to use oral PrEP in Wuhan and Shanghai,
China. Methods: Between May and December 2015, a cross-sectional survey
was conducted among 487 MSM recruited through snowball sampling in
physical locations frequented by MSM and through social media
applications. Exploratory factor analysis was used to group reasons for
being willing or not willing to use PrEP. Chi-square tests were used to
explore bivariate associations between groupings of reasons for being
willing or unwilling to use PrEP, and key sociodemographic and
sexual-behavioral characteristics of MSM. Results: Overall, 71.3% of
respondents were willing to use PrEP. The most commonly reported reasons
for being willing to use PrEP were preventing HIV infection (91.6%),
taking responsibility for own sexual health (72.6%) and protecting family
members from harm (59.4%). The main reasons for being unwilling to use
PrEP were being worried about side effects (72.9%), the necessity of
taking PrEP for long periods of time (54.3%) and cost (40.4%). Individual
characteristics that influenced the type of reasons given for being
willing or unwilling to use PrEP included being married to a woman, having
a regular sex partner, rates of condom use with regular and casual sex
partners, and the number of casual sex partners. Conclusion: The
introduction of PrEP in China could benefit from promotion campaigns that
emphasize its role in preventing HIV infection, in taking responsibility
for own sexual health, and in protecting family members from potential
harm. To reduce uptake barriers, it will be essential to provide accurate
information to potential PrEP users about the mild and short-term nature
of side effects, and the possibility of taking PrEP only during particular
periods of life when the risk of HIV exposure might be highest.