The Lisbon Cohort of men who have sex with men

Abstract

PurposeNewly diagnosed HIV infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) are rising in many European countries. Surveillance tools must be tailored to the current state of the epidemic, and include decentralised prospective monitoring of HIV incidence and behavioural changes in key populations. In this scenario, an open prospective cohort study was assembled—The Lisbon Cohort of MSM—aiming to dynamically monitor the frequency of disease and its predictors.ParticipantsThe Lisbon Cohort of MSM is an ongoing observational prospective study conducted at a community-based voluntary HIV counselling and testing centre in Lisbon, Portugal (CheckpointLX). Men testing negative for HIV, aged 18 or over and reporting having had sex with men are invited to follow-up visits every 6 months. At each evaluation, a face-to-face interview using a structured questionnaire is conducted, and HIV and syphilis rapid tests are performed by trained peer counsellors. From April 2011 to February 2014, 3106 MSM were eligible to the cohort of whom 923 (29.7%) did not participate. The remaining 2183 (70.3%) MSM were enrolled and 804 had at least one follow-up evaluation, for a total of 893 person-years of observation.Future plansThe study findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals and presented at national and international conferences. The follow-up of this cohort of HIV-negative MSM will be a valuable tool for monitoring HIV incidence in a setting where limited prospective information existed. Moreover, it will allow for a deeper analytical approach to the study of population time trends and individual changes in risk factors that currently shape the HIV epidemic among MSM.

Why we need pre-exposure prophylaxis: incident HIV and syphilis among men, and transgender women, who have sex with men, Bangkok, Thailand, 2005–2015

“…However, clients or participants in longitudinal assessments of HIV in a clinic or cohort study may not be representative of the general population of MSM. [18][19][20][21][22] We assessed trends in the incidence of HIV and syphilis infections from 2005 to 2015 among MSM and TGW attending the Silom Community Clinic (SCC) located in central Bangkok. Since 2005 the clinic has provided an MSM-friendly environment and rapid voluntary counseling and testing (VCT).…”

Different guidelines for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) eligibility estimate HIV risk differently: an incidence study in a cohort of HIV-negative men who have sex with men, Portugal, 2014–2018

“…The Lisbon Cohort of MSM is an ongoing prospective cohort study conducted at a CBVCT in Lisbon, Portugal (CheckpointLX). A description of the cohort is provided elsewhere [18,19]…”

“…The Lisbon Cohort of MSM is an ongoing prospective cohort study conducted at a CBVCT in Lisbon, Portugal (CheckpointLX). A description of the cohort is provided elsewhere [ 18 , 19 ]. In brief, the Lisbon Cohort of MSM is an open, non-interval cohort of men 18 years or older who report having sex with men, present for an HIV test at CheckpointLX and have a negative HIV test result at recruitment.…”

COBA-Cohort: a prospective cohort of HIV-negative men who have sex with men, attending community-based HIV testing services in five European countries (a study protocol)

“…The existence of two ongoing HIV-negative MSM cohorts in CBVCT services, at BCN Checkpoint in Barcelona 4 and CheckpointLX in Lisbon, 24 demonstrates the feasibility of running a service-based pan-European cohort, enrolling and following up MSM within established CBVCT services. CheckpointLX, which is also participating in COBA-Cohort, established and runs the MSM Lisbon Cohort and was enrolling around 600 new participants per year until 2014, taking into account a 30% refusal rate.…”

“…This study protocol thus proposes to implement a service-based cohort of HIV-negative MSM among attendees of existing CBVCT services targeting MSM, taking into account the experience of two existing cohorts of MSM in CBVCT services. 4 24 The protocol was developed within the Euro HIV Early Diagnosis And Treatment project (Euro HIV EDAT: https://eurohivedat.eu/ ), cofunded by the Consumers, Health, Agriculture and Food Executive Agency (CHAFEA, European Commission). Euro HIV EDAT builds on experience and expertise from the HIV-COBATEST project (study reports available at http://cobatest.org ) in which a network of European CBVCT services was developed to share experience and improve early diagnosis in key populations such as MSM.…”