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Table 2 Sociodemographics, reported sexually transmitted infections and sexual behaviours by PrEP use category in the preceding three months (i.e. daily (N = 142), long period (N = 64), and short period (N = 83) use) at baseline and associations between these factors and PrEP use category; 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

 

Daily/almost daily

N = 142

Long period use with or without additional short period use

N = 64

Short period use only

N = 83

p-value£

 

n (%)

n (%)

n (%)

 

Sociodemographic baseline characteristics

    

Age in years, mean (SD)

41.4 (9.4)

41.0 (9.4)

43.8 (10.7)

0.143

Born in Belgium

117 (82.4)

56 (87.5)

75 (90.4)

0.247

Higher education1

111 (78.2)

52 (81.3)

70 (84.3)

0.531

Occupational status2

   

0.365

 Employed

122 (85.9)

54 (84.4)

66 (79.5)

 

 Unemployed

19 (13.4)

10 (15.6)

14 (16.9)

 

 Other

1 (0.7)

0 (0.0)

3 (3.6)

 

Financial status

   

0.072

 Living really comfortably on present income

30 (21.1)

14 (21.9)

12 (14.5)

 

 Living comfortably on present income

68 (47.9)

29 (45.3)

39 (47.0)

 

 Neither comfortable nor struggling on present income

25 (17.6)

18 (28.1)

26 (31.3)

 

 Struggling or really struggling on present income

18 (12.7)

2 (3.1)

4 (4.8)

 

 I prefer not to say

1 (0.7)

1 (1.6)

2 (2.4)

 

Having social health insurance

139 (97.9)

62 (96.9)

83 (100.0)

0.304

Sex and sexuality

    

Male sex at birth

141 (99.3)

63 (98.4)

83 (100.0)

0.461

Sexually attracted to men

141 (99.3)

62 (96.9)

83 (100.0)

0.204

Sexual health score (scale 1–5), mean (SD)

3.9 (0.7)

3.6 (0.6)

3.7 (0.7)

0.002

Sexual sensation seeking scale score (scale 1–4), mean (SD)

2.9 (0.5)

2.8 (0.4)

2.8 (0.5)

0.174

Time since PrEP start

    

First started taking PrEP

   

0.046

 Less than 6 months ago

13 (9.2)

3 (4.7)

5 (6.0)

 

 6–12 months ago

19 (13.4)

9 (14.1)

14 (16.9)

 

 12–24 months ago

37 (26.1)

32 (50.0)

27 (32.5)

 

 More than 24 months ago

73 (51.4)

20 (31.3)

37 (44.6)

 

Sexually transmitted infections

    

Reported having had an STI in the preceding 6 months

50 (35.2)

20 (31.3)

19 (22.9)

0.157

Sexual behaviour in the preceding 3 months

    

STEADY PARTNER

    

Number of steady partners

   

0.879

 0

72 (50.7)

30 (46.9)

40 (48.2)

 

 1 or more

70 (49.3)

34 (53.1)

43 (51.8)

 

Anal sex with steady partners*

   

0.162

 No

15 (21.4)

15 (44.1)

9 (20.9)

 

 Yes

55 (78.6)

19 (55.9)

34 (79.1)

 

Condom use during anal sex with steady partners**

   

0.234

 Always

2 (3.6)

0 (0.0)

1 (2.9)

 

 Sometimes

4 (7.3)

4 (21.1)

3 (8.8)

 

 Never

49 (89.1)

15 (78.9)

30 (88.2)

 

PrEP use during anal sex with steady partners**

   

< 0.001

 Always

47 (85.5)

4 (21.1)

9 (26.5)

 

 Sometimes

2 (3.6)

5 (26.3)

4 (11.8)

 

 Never

6 (10.9)

10 (52.6)

21 (61.8)

 

CASUAL SEX PARTNER

    

Number of casual partners

   

< 0.001

 0

6 (4.2)

7 (10.9)

11 (13.3)

 

 1

7 (4.9)

5 (7.8)

11 (13.3)

 

 2–4

31 (21.8)

23 (35.9)

37 (44.6)

 

 5 or more

98 (69.0)

29 (45.3)

24 (28.9)

 

Frequency of anal sex with casual partners*

   

< 0.001

 No anal sex

10 (7.4)

7 (10.9)

7 (9.7)

 

 Less than monthly

14 (10.3)

5 (8.8)

21 (29.2)

 

 Monthly

42 (30.9)

30 (52.6)

31 (43.1)

 

 Weekly

68 (50.0)

15 (26.3)

13 (18.1)

 

 Daily

2 (1.5)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

 

Condom use during anal sex with casual partners**

   

0.160

 Always

12 (9.5)

4 (8.0)

8 (12.3)

 

 Sometimes

58 (46.0)

25 (50.0)

22 (33.8)

 

 Never

56 (44.4)

21 (42.0)

35 (53.8)

 

PrEP use during anal sex with casual partners**

   

0.005

 Always

121 (96.0)

45 (90.0)

55 (84.6)

 

 Sometimes

3 (2.4)

5 (10.0)

10 (15.4)

 

 Never

2 (1.6)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

 

ANONYMOUS SEX PARTNER

    

Number of anonymous partners

   

< 0.001

 0

16 (11.3)

11 (17.2)

33 (39.8)

 

 1

7 (4.9)

3 (4.7)

10 (12.0)

 

 2–5

51 (35.9)

30 (46.9)

28 (33.7)

 

 6–9

13 (9.2)

7 (10.9)

4 (4.8)

 

 10 or more

55 (38.7)

13 (20.3)

8 (9.6)

 

Frequency of anal sex with anonymous partners*

< 0.001

 No anal sex

10 (7.9)

7 (13.2)

4 (8.0)

 

 Less than monthly

23 (18.3)

9 (17.0)

18 (36.0)

 

 Monthly

38 (30.2)

28 (52.8)

22 (44.0)

 

 Weekly

54 (42.9)

9 (17.0)

6 (12.0)

 

 Daily

1 (0.8)

0 (0.0)

0 (0.0)

 

Condom use during anal sex with anonymous partners**

   

< 0.001

 Always

15 (12.9)

7 (15.2)

10 (21.7)

 

 Sometimes

51 (44.0)

22 (47.8)

12 (26.1)

 

 Never

50 (43.1)

17 (37.0)

24 (52.2)

 

PrEP use during anal sex with anonymous partner**

< 0.001

 Always

112 (96.6)

39 (84.8)

40 (87.0)

 

 Sometimes

3 (2.6)

6 (13.0)

5 (10.9)

 

 Never

1 (0.9)

1 (2.2)

1 (2.2)

 
  1. SD: standard deviation, PrEP: Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, STIs: sexually transmitted infections, £ using Fisher’s exact or one-way ANOVA tests. 1: higher education means college or university and includes higher education long type (i.e. more than 3 years) and short type (i.e. 3 years or less), 2: occupational status: ‘unemployed’ includes long-term sick/leave/medically retired, technical unemployed, retired, student, and unemployed. ‘employed’ includes employed full-time, employed part-time and self-employed., values in bold indicate significant p-values < 0.05
  2. * Among those with respectively steady, casual or anonymous sex partners / ** Among those who report anal sex with respectively steady, casual or anonymous sex partners