Table 1 Sociodemographic and sexual behaviour characteristics, reported sexually transmitted infections and PrEP use at baseline of all participants at baseline (N = 326), participants completing all study rounds (N = 173) and those who did not (N = 153); study on PrEP users’ patterns of PrEP use, Belgium, 2020–2022
From: Patterns of PrEP and condom use among PrEP users in Belgium: a web-based longitudinal study
|  | All participants at baseline N = 326 | Participants who completed all study rounds N = 173 | Participants who did not complete all study rounds N = 153 |  | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|  | n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | P-value£ | |
Sociodemographic characteristics | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
Age in years, median [IQR] | 42 [34–50] | 44 [36–52] | 38 [32–48] | < 0.001 | |
Born in Belgium | 279 (85.6) | 151 (87.3) | 128 (83.7) | 0.440 | |
Higher education1 | 266 (81.6) | 136 (78.6) | 130 (85.0) | 0.182 | |
Occupational status2 | Â | Â | Â | 0.779 | |
 Employed | 269 (82.5) | 142 (82.1) | 127 (83.0) |  | |
 Unemployed | 52 (16.0) | 29 (16.8) | 23 (15.0) |  | |
 Other | 5 (1.5) | 2 (1.1) | 3 (2.0) |  | |
Financial status | Â | Â | Â | 0.208 | |
 Living really comfortably on present income | 65 (19.9) | 31 (17.9) | 34 (22.2) |  | |
 Living comfortably on present income | 154 (47.2) | 84 (48.6) | 70 (45.8) |  | |
 Neither comfortable nor struggling on present income | 75 (23.0) | 45 (26.0) | 30 (19.6) |  | |
 Struggling or really struggling on present income | 26 (8.0) | 12 (6.9) | 14 (9.2) |  | |
 Preferred not to say | 6 (1.8) | 1 (0.6) | 5 (3.3) |  | |
Having social health insurance | 320 (98.2) | 169 (97.7) | 151 (98.7) | 0.688 | |
Sex and sexuality | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
Male sex at birth | 323 (99.1) | 171 (98.8) | 152 (99.3) | 1 | |
Sexually attracted to men | 322 (98.8) | 171 (98.8) | 151 (98.7) | 1 | |
Sexual health score, median [IQR] | 3.7 [3.3–4.3] | 3.8 [3.3–4.3] | 3.8 [3.3–4.3] | 0.539 | |
Sexual sensation seeking scale score, median [IQR] | 2.9 [2.5–3.2] | 2.9 [2.5–3.2] | 2.8 [2.5–3.2] | 0.895 | |
PrEP use | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
First started taking PrEP | Â | Â | Â | 0.125 | |
 Less than 6 months ago | 21 (6.4) | 6 (3.5) | 15 (9.8) |  | |
 6–12 months ago | 49 (15.0) | 25 (14.4) | 24 (15.7) |  | |
 12–24 months ago | 106 (32.5) | 58 (33.5) | 48 (31.4) |  | |
 More than 24 months ago | 150 (46.0) | 84 (48.6) | 66 (43.1) |  | |
PrEP use in the preceding 3 months | Â | Â | Â | 0.032 | |
 Daily/almost daily | 142 (43.6) | 77 (44.5) | 65 (42.5) |  | |
 Long period use with or without additional short period use | 64 (19.6) | 26 (15.0) | 38 (24.8) |  | |
 Short period use only | 83 (25.5) | 54 (31.2) | 29 (19.0) |  | |
 No PrEP | 13 (4.0) | 5 (2.9) | 8 (5.2) |  | |
 Missing | 24 (7.4) | 11 (6.4) | 13 (8.5) |  | |
Sexually transmitted infections | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
Reported having had an STI in the preceding 6 months | 98 (30.1) | 50 (28.9) | 48 (31.4) | 0.716 | |
Sexual behaviour in the preceding 3 months | |||||
STEADY PARTNERS | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
Number of steady partners | Â | Â | Â | 0.906 | |
 0 | 162 (49.7) | 87 (50.3) | 75 (49.0) |  | |
 1 or more | 164 (50.3) | 86 (49.7) | 78 (51.0) |  | |
Anal sex with steady partners* | Â | Â | Â | 0.735 | |
 No | 43 (26.2) | 24 (27.9) | 19 (24.4) |  | |
 Yes | 121 (73.8) | 62 (72.1)) | 59 (75.6) |  | |
Condom use during anal sex with steady partners** | 0.692 | ||||
 Always | 4 (3.3) | 3 (4.8) | 1 (1.7) |  | |
 Sometimes | 11 (9.1) | 5 (8.1) | 6 (10.2) |  | |
 Never | 106 (87.6) | 54 (87.1) | 52 (88.1) |  | |
PrEP use during anal sex with steady partners** | 0.691 | ||||
 Always | 66 (54.5) | 35 (56.5) | 31 (52.5) |  | |
 Sometimes | 12 (9.9) | 7 (11.3) | 5 (8.5) |  | |
 Never | 43 (35.5) | 20 (32.3) | 23 (39.0) |  | |
CASUAL SEX PARTNERS | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
Number of casual partners | Â | Â | Â | 0.076 | |
 0 | 38 (11.7) | 16 (9.2) | 22 (14.4) |  | |
 1 | 24 (7.4) | 17 (9.8) | 7 (4.6) |  | |
 2–4 | 101 (31.0) | 48 (27.7) | 53 (34.6) |  | |
 5 or more | 163 (50.0) | 92 (53.2) | 71 (46.4) |  | |
Frequency of anal sex with casual partners* | 0.292 | ||||
 No anal sex | 27 (9.4) | 14 (8.9) | 13 (9.9) |  | |
 Less than monthly | 46 (16.0) | 29 (18.5) | 17 (13.0) |  | |
 Monthly | 111 (38.5) | 58 (36.9) | 53 (40.5) |  | |
 Weekly | 101 (35.1) | 56 (35.7) | 45 (34.4) |  | |
 Daily | 3 (1.0) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (2.3) |  | |
Condom use during anal sex with casual partners** | 0.203 | ||||
 Always | 27 (10.3) | 12 (8.4) | 15 (12.7) |  | |
 Sometimes | 113 (43.3) | 58 (40.6) | 55 (46.6) |  | |
 Never | 121 (46.4) | 73 (51.0) | 48 (46.8) |  | |
PrEP use during anal sex with casual partners** | 0.013 | ||||
 Always | 237 (90.8) | 136 (95.1) | 101 (85.6) |  | |
 Sometimes | 20 (7.7) | 5 (3.5) | 15 (12.7) |  | |
 Never | 4 (1.5) | 2 (1.4) | 2 (1.7) |  | |
ANONYMOUS SEX PARTNERS | Â | Â | Â | Â | |
Number of anonymous partners | Â | Â | Â | 0.612 | |
 0 | 75 (23.0) | 34 (19.7) | 41 (26.8) |  | |
 1 | 23 (7.1) | 14 (8.1) | 9 (5.9) |  | |
 2–5 | 122 (37.4) | 66 (38.2) | 56 (36.6) |  | |
 6–9 | 25 (7.7) | 14 (8.1) | 11 (7.2) |  | |
 10 or more | 81 (24.8) | 45 (26.0) | 36 (23.5) |  | |
Frequency of anal sex with anonymous partners* | 0.135 | ||||
 No anal sex | 27 (10.8) | 11 (8.0) | 15 (13.4) |  | |
 Less than monthly | 56 (22.3) | 35 (25.4) | 21 (18.7) |  | |
 Monthly | 92 (36.7) | 55 (39.9) | 37 (32.0) |  | |
 Weekly | 74 (29.5) | 37 (26.8) | 37 (33.0) |  | |
 Daily | 2 (0.8) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (1.8) |  | |
Condom use during anal sex with anonymous partners** | 0.176 | ||||
 Always | 36 (16.1) | 16 (12.6) | 20 (20.6) |  | |
 Sometimes | 90 (40.2) | 50 (39.4) | 40 (41.2) |  | |
 Never | 98 (43.8) | 61 (48.0) | 37 (38.1) |  | |
PrEP use during anal sex with anonymous partners** | < 0.001 | ||||
 Always | 205 (91.5) | 124 (97.6) | 81 (83.5) |  | |
 Sometimes | 15 (6.7) | 3 (2.4) | 12 (12.4) |  | |
 Never | 4 (1.8) | 0 (0.0) | 4 (4.1) |  | |