Predictors of receiving a doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (Doxy-PEP) prescription for the prevention of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in a community-based clinic: a case–control study

Studies have found that doxycycline postexposure prophylaxis (Doxy-PEP), when administered within 72 hours of condomless sex, reduces the incidence of syphilis, chlamydia and gonorrhoea among sexual minority men (SMM).1–3 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released clinical guidelines on the administration of Doxy-PEP for sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention.4 The current study investigated the association between sociodemographic characteristics, sexual risk-taking behaviours, recent STI diagnosis, HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) use and receiving a Doxy-PEP prescription for STI prevention among a sample of racial and sexual minority individuals receiving healthcare services at a community clinic in Washington, DC. We focused on racial and sexual minority populations as these groups are primarily served by the community clinic. We analysed the electronic medical records of clients (n=100) who received services at Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc, between May and November 2023. Cases were defined as clients who were prescribed Doxy-PEP and controls were defined as clients who were not prescribed Doxy-PEP. Clients were eligible for Doxy-PEP if they had any reactive STI results in the previous 6 months; the CDC guidelines recommend counselling for sexual minority men (SMM) and …