HIV Preexposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) was approved for adolescents in 2018 by the US Food and Drug Administration. Kimball et al (10.1542/peds.2023-062599) report findings from an analysis of national pharmacy data from 2018 to 2021to assess rates of PrEP among teens in a new study being released this month in Pediatrics 13- to 19-years-old.
A key finding in this analysis is that there was a 76.2% increase in prescriptions ordered during the four years studied with increases noted every year except for 2020. The authors point out important increases in prescriptions written for males (82.6%) and older adolescents (87.8%). Interestingly, only 29.6% of the prescribers for these adolescents were pediatricians. Because the data come from a national prescription database, there is no information on other sociodemographic data such as sexual identity or HIV risk factors.
What should we be doing related to PrEP prescribing? We invited a commentary from Drs. David Griffith and Allison Agwu from the Divisions of Pediatric and Adult Infectious Diseases at Johns Hopkins University (10.1542/peds.2023-063238). They note the strengths and limitations of the study and highlight the good news about the uptick in prescription rates. They also point out barriers to PrEP prescribing and provide suggestions as to how to become more comfortable having critical conversations with teen patients who are at high risk of acquiring HIV and would benefit from PrEP. Drs. Griffith and Agwu offer advice about PrEP adherence. Do the prep work needed to become familiar with PrEP—and this study and commentary are a great first step to doing so. Link to both and learn more.
