P556 History of STI therapy and willingness of PrEP among HIV-negative MSM cohort in japan

Background Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) is not yet approved and information of PrEP is still very limited in Japan. In such circumstances, we established an HIV-negative MSM cohort at National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo in 2017. This study aimed to explore correlation between histories of STI therapies and willingness of receiving PrEP in this cohort. Methods Face-to-face interviews with a semi-structured standardized questionnaire was conducted. HIV incidence risk index for MSM was used to identify the risk of HIV acquisition and scores of 10 and over were defined as at the high risk. Willingness of PrEP was divided into 4 categories: “Yes definitely”, “Yes probably”, “No probably” and “No definitely”. Histories of STI therapies within 1 year against at least one of followings; syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis A, B, and C virus infection, genital herpes, amoebiasis, giardiasis, and condyloma, were recorded. Results A total of 230 MSM completed the interviews from November 2017 through October 2018. The median age was 35 years (range: 18–70). MSM at the high risk was found in 185 (80.4%). MSM who knew PrEP was only 61.3%. Positive willingness of PrEP was observed in 64.8%. MSM who answered “No definitely” were 21 among 185 high risk MSM. Their main negative reasons were “I think my HIV acquisition risk is low” in 12 MSM and “I don’t like to take medicine” in 8. Histories of STI therapy within 1 year were found in 81 MSM (35.2%). Among them, 27 (33.3%) had still the negative willingness. There was no correlation of the positive willingness and history of STIs (p=0.66). Conclusion Still one third of MSM in our cohort lacked the proper knowledge of PrEP. Especially it is important to allow themselves to assess their own risk of HIV infection. Disclosure No significant relationships.