2022 · American journal of men's health · open access
Study Evaluating Self-Collected Specimen Return for HIV, Bacterial STI, and Potential Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis Adherence Testing Among Sexual Minority Men in the United States
Sharma et al.
The finding, in our words
Fifty-one per cent of racially and ethnically diverse gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men returned at least one self-collected specimen, blood, urine, pharyngeal or rectal swabs, or hair, within six weeks when offered for remote HIV and STI screening and pre-exposure prophylaxis adherence testing; most specimens were adequate for laboratory processing. Non-return was associated with lower education, employment, and lower HIV/STI knowledge and concern, indicating that while self-collection is feasible for decentralised diagnostics, targeted engagement strategies are needed.
A paraphrase to the Library’s standard, never the abstract. The source is one link away and is always the authority.
The study found that self-collection of dried blood spots and other samples using at-home kits was a useful and cost-effective method for screening a large cohort for sexually transmitted infections outside a clinic. This demonstrates the feasibility of decentralised, patient-centric sampling for population-level infectious disease surveillance.
Mimiaga et al., Sexually transmitted infections (paywalled) · source ↗
This retrospective analysis of over 600,000 online postal self-sampling orders found that whilst return rates for urine samples were moderate to high, the return of processable blood samples was significantly lower and varied by age and deprivation level.
Gibbs et al., Sexually transmitted infections (paywalled) · source ↗
Sexual minority men found finger-stick blood and rectal swabs more challenging to self-collect than other specimens. Barriers to returning samples included low confidence in self-collection and concerns about transit delays, while motivators were status confirmation and limited clinic access; real-time video support could improve uptake in future decentralised testing programmes.
The pilot study provided evidence that a dry-stored, self-collected vaginal swab could assist detection of Chlamydia trachomatis when compared with clinician-collected discharge, first-catch urine and blood serology, potentially reducing privacy barriers and removing cold-chain requirements for screening in remote areas.
Muljadi et al., Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · source ↗
Higher engagement in regular HIV and STI testing was associated with incident STIs and health seeking behaviours, and participants rated self-sampling as convenient.