DrPH Student Examines Effects of Condom Use on HIV Transmission

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 15, 2022) – Hypothetical modeling work published in Sexually Transmitted Diseases shows that increases in condom use have the potential to avert one in 11 new HIV infections among adolescent males who have sexual contact with other males.

The research team, which included UAlbany DrPH student Elizabeth Rosenthal, investigated effects of a hypothetical comprehensive sex education intervention, looking at how condom use may change based on different scenarios and simulations—considering important variables like the age of an individual during intervention delivery and whether the intervention is given before they start having sexual contact with other males.

“Condom use not only has the ability to reduce HIV burden for adolescent males—it also has the ability to reduce other sexually transmitted infections,” explains Rosenthal. “Creating estimates of how condom use could help avert negative health outcomes may help to inform development—and implementation—of public health interventions.”

Using various data sets that collected information on youth behavior between 2011 and 2017, the research team focused their work on adolescent sexual minority males (ASMM) between the ages of 13 and 18. They assessed condom use in relation to age, year, and ethnicity, and predicted what would happen if their intervention increased condom use by 37 percent for five years, and if 62 percent of males who had sex with males received this intervention when they were 14 years old.

The intervention averted, on average, about 9 percent of HIV infections—or about one in 11 new HIV infections. Overall, the intervention also demonstrated a lower HIV prevalence after ten years (4.0 percent) among 18 year olds, compared to 4.7 percent without the intervention.

“Despite having higher HIV incidence than heterosexual adolescents, ASMM haven’t received the same amount of research for HIV prevention,” says Rosenthal. “More research is needed to identify the most effective and efficient strategies for improving condom use for this population specifically.”

Associate professor Eli Rosenberg is also a contributor to the article.

Elizabeth Rosenthal previously worked as part of the Coalition for Applied Modeling and Prevention (CAMP), based at SPH since 2019, which develops epidemiological and economic models to predict the answers to important public health questions in the areas of HIV, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, tuberculosis and adolescent health.