Pa. Vanable et al., Impact of combination therapies on HIV risk perceptions and sexual risk among HIV-positive and HIV-negative gay and bisexual men, HEALTH PSYC, 19(2), 2000, pp. 134-145
The availability of improved HIV treatments may prompt reduced concern abou
t HIV and sexual risk. Gay and bisexual men (N = 554, 17% HIV-positive) com
pleted measures of treatment attitudes, sexual risk, and assumptions regard
ing the infectiousness of sexual partners. A substantial minority reported
reduced HIV concern related to treatment advances. Reduced HN concern was a
n independent predictor of sexual risk, particularly among HIV-positive men
. In response to hypothetical scenarios describing sex with an HIV-positive
partner, participants rated the risk of unprotected sex to be lower if the
partner was taking combination treatments and had an undetectable viral lo
ad, relative to scenarios with a seropositive partner not taking combinatio
n treatments. Prevention efforts must address attitudinal shifts prompted b
y recent treatment successes, stressing the continued importance of safer s
ex, and that an undetectable viral load does not eliminate infection risks.