Photo Credit: Oleg Elkov

Many people who inject drugs (PWID) perceive themselves to be at low risk for HIV despite being eligible for PrEP, according to findings published in Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports. Tarfa Verinumbe, MBBS, MPH, and colleagues examined perceptions of HIV risk among PWID by examining PWID relative to the average risk for their age group categorized as higher-than, lower-than, or about average. Among 489 participants (61% men; 66% Black), 35% reported awareness of PrEP, but less than 1% had used PrEP in the preceding 30 days. Overall, 30% of PWID reported lower-than-average perceived risk for HIV, and 18% reported non-willingness to use PrEP. Those with injection risk alone were more likely (adjusted OR, 2.75; 95% CI, 1.60-4.73) to report lower-than-average perceptions of HIV risk versus those with any sexual risk. Participants with lower-than-average perceived risk were more likely to report non-willingness to use PrEP versus those with higher perceived risk (adjusted prevalence ratio, 1.91; 95% CI, 1.18-3.10).