A research of greater than 2,000 sufferers in Los Angeles who had been prescribed doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (DP) discovered it was extremely efficient in stopping sexually transmitted infections (STIs), researchers reported final week in Open Discussion board Infectious Illnesses.
For the researchcarried out on the Los Angeles LGBT Heart from April 2019 to July 2024, researchers analyzed digital well being document knowledge on 2,083 sufferers who had been prescribed DP over the research interval. The middle issued formal clinician steering on DP use in October 2022. The goal of the research was to assessment affected person demographics, STI testing historical past, use patterns, and short-term effectiveness of DP.
Almost half of the sufferers had been between 31 and 40 years of age (48.1%), over half had been white (55.9%), 85.2% had been homosexual or bisexual males, and 41.4% had a historical past of a number of STI diagnoses within the 12 months previous to DP initiation. Almost 1 / 4 (24.5%) of DP sufferers obtained a prescription from January 1 to April 15, 2024.
Actual-world efficacy matches medical trial outcomes
Amongst 1,115 sufferers with 6 months or extra of DP use, circumstances of syphilis fell by 86.4%, chlamydia circumstances declined by 89.7%, and gonorrhea circumstances decreased by 54.7%. There was comparable effectiveness for chlamydia and gonorrhea no matter anatomic website (rectal or throat swabs or urine pattern).
The research authors be aware that the discount in bacterial STIs noticed amongst DP customers is just like the outcomes of the DoxyPEP trial carried out in San Francisco and Seattle. Outcomes from that trial and one other in France resulted within the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention recommending DP in 2024 for homosexual males and transgender ladies with a historical past of STIs.
The authors say that whereas DP has grow to be “an vital and ever extra broadly used device” for bacterial STI transmission, vital questions on attainable tradeoffs or penalties of constant use stay.
“Researchers ought to intently look at use patterns and set up high quality enchancment applications in all settings the place DP use is advisable to be able to reduce adversarial outcomes whereas making an attempt to attain inhabitants influence on the STI and HIV syndemics,” they concluded.
