Faculty, Staff and Student Publications
Publication Date
1-1-2024
Journal
LGBT Health
Abstract
Purpose: Anal cancer has disproportionately high incidence among sexual minority men. We compared acceptability of home versus clinic human papillomavirus (HPV) anal swabbing.
Methods: The Prevent Anal Cancer Self-Swab Study recruited sexual and gender minority individuals in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Eligible participants were randomized to a home or clinic arm. Home participants received a mailed anal HPV self-sampling kit. Clinic participants attended a clinic appointment where a clinician collected an anal HPV swab. We examined acceptability (overall thoughts, comfort with method, pain, and future willingness to swab) of home versus clinic swabbing using postswab survey responses.
Results: A total of 191 individuals completed swabbing and a postswab survey (home = 53.4%, clinic = 46.6%). Mean age was 47 years (range = 25-78). Reported overall thoughts about home (71.6%) and clinic (69.7%) swabbing were mostly positive (p = 0.83). Overall thoughts about the home kit did not differ by participant characteristics, but overall thoughts about clinician swabbing differed by race (p = 0.04) and HIV status (p = 0.002). Nearly all participants (98.4%) reported they were comfortable receiving the kit or getting the swabbing in the clinic, reported little or no pain (98.4%), and reported willingness to undergo swabbing in the future (97.9%). After swabbing, clinic participants reported greater trust that swabbing can give accurate information about anal cancer risk (89.9%) than home participants (69.6%) (p < 0.001), and that swabbing will help them avoid anal cancer (clinic = 79.8%, home = 59.8%) (p = 0.01).
Conclusion: Anal swabbing acceptability was high and did not differ between home and clinic. Participants reported high confidence and knowledge using the mailed anal self-sampling kit. Clinical Trial Registration number is NCT03489707.
Keywords
Male, Humans, Adult, Middle Aged, Aged, Female, Human Papillomavirus Viruses, Papillomavirus Infections, Wisconsin, Papillomaviridae, Anus Neoplasms, Sexual and Gender Minorities, Early Detection of Cancer, Uterine Cervical Neoplasms
DOI
10.1089/lgbt.2023.0012
PMID
37870947
PMCID
PMC11698672
PubMedCentral® Posted Date
1-16-2024
PubMedCentral® Full Text Version
Post-print
Published Open-Access
yes
Included in
Community Health and Preventive Medicine Commons, Public Health Education and Promotion Commons