Data from National Center for HIV Broaden Understanding of HIV/AIDS (Uptake of HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis Among Medicare Beneficiaries – United States, 2014-2021): Immune System Diseases and Conditions – HIV/AIDS

2025 JAN 07 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Health Policy and Law Daily -- Current study results on HIV/AIDS have been published. According to news reporting originating from Atlanta, Georgia, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Previous studies have estimated preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use among persons with commercial health insurance and Medicaid. However, data are lacking regarding PrEP use among those with Medicare.”

The news editors obtained a quote from the research from National Center for HIV: “Using a previously developed algorithm, we estimated the number of Medicare beneficiaries (MBs) with fee-for-service (FFS) claims who were prescribed PrEP from 2014 to 2021. The analysis was stratified by age, sex, and race/ethnicity. We also examined trends in PrEP prevalence by U.S. state and demographic characteristics during 2014-2021. The number of Medicare PrEP users increased 11-fold, from 388 in 2014 to 4,685 in 2021. MBs prescribed PrEP were predominantly younger men, White persons, residing in the South or West regions, living with a disability, and dually eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid. The prevalence of PrEP prescriptions among MBs increased 12-fold, from 9.7 per million in 2014 to to 120.0 per million in 2021. Black/African American persons had the highest prevalence of PrEP use, followed by Hispanic/Latino and White persons in 2021. The District of Columbia had the highest prevalence of PrEP use compared with other U.S. states in 2021. Significant increasing trends in PrEP use were observed across sex, age groups, and race/ethnicity.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Disparities in PrEP uptake existed across MB demographic subgroups from 2014 to 2021. Public health interventions are needed to increase PrEP access and utilization, particularly among women, younger MBs, Black persons, and Hispanic persons, including those with Medicare. Strategies and policies to expand PrEP use are essential for optimal HIV prevention in the United States.”

For more information on this research see: Uptake of HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis Among Medicare Beneficiaries - United States, 2014-2021. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, 2024. The publisher for JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes is Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health).

A free version of this journal article is available at https://doi.org/10.1097/qai.0000000000003590.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Ya-Lin A. Huang, Division of HIV Prevention, National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD and TB Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Additional authors for this research include Man-Huei Chang, Weiming Zhu, Karen W. Hoover.

ORCID is an identifier for authors and includes bibliographic information. The following is ORCID information for the authors of this research: Ya-Lin A. Huang (http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3137-8594), Man-Huei Chang (http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8640-6161), Karen W. Hoover (http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4942-7905).

(Our reports deliver fact-based news of research and discoveries from around the world.)