Dataset Information

Living conditions, HIV and gender affirmation care pathways of transgender people living with HIV in France: a nationwide, comprehensive, cross-sectional, community-based research protocol (ANRS Trans&HIV).

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Transgender identity is poorly accepted in France, and data on living conditions and the daily difficulties transgender people encounter are scarce. This lack of data reinforces their invisibility in social life, contributes to their stigmatisation and probably increases the burden of HIV infection, especially for HIV-positive transgender people (TRHIV). The main objective of the community-based research study ANRS Trans&HIV is to identify personal and social situations of vulnerability in TRHIV, the obstacles they encounter in terms of access to and retention in medical care, and their gender affirmation and HIV care needs.

Methods and analysis

ANRS Trans&HIV is a national, comprehensive, cross-sectional survey of all TRHIV currently being followed in HIV care units in France. TRHIV women are exclusively included in the quantitative component, and TRHIV men in the qualitative component. Data are collected by community-based interviewers and will be analysed to explore patient care pathways and living conditions in the TRHIV population with regard to gender affirmation and HIV. Data collection began in October 2020 and should be completed in December 2021. The statistical analyses techniques used will be adapted to each of the study's objectives and to the type of data collected (cross-sectional (questionnaires) and retrospective (biographical trajectory)). The study's results will provide a greater understanding of TRHIV health needs in order to suggest possible national recommendations for comprehensive HIV and gender affirmation medical care.

Ethics and dissemination

ANRS Trans&HIV was approved by Inserm's Ethical Evaluation Committee (no 20-694 on 12 May 2020) and is registered with the National Commission on Informatics and Liberty under number 2518030720. Potential participants are informed about the study through an information note provided by their attending HIV physician. All results published in peer-reviewed journals will be disseminated to the HIV transgender community, institutional stakeholders and healthcare providers.

Trial registration number

NCT04849767.

SUBMITTER: Mora M

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8679115 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:BackgroundGender-based disparities in health-care are common and can affect access to care. We aimed to investigate the impact of gender and socio-environmental indicators on health-care access in oncology in France.MethodsUsing the national health insurance system database in France, we identified patients (aged ≥18 years) who were diagnosed with solid invasive cancers between the 1st of January 2018 and the 31st of December 2019. We ensured that only incident cases were identified by excluding patients with an existing cancer diagnosis in 2016 and 2017; skin cancers other than melanoma were also excluded. We extracted 71 socio-environmental variables related to patients' living environment and divided these into eight categories: inaccessibility to public transport, economic deprivation, unemployment, gender-related wage disparities, social isolation, educational barriers, familial hardship, and insecurity. We employed a mixed linear regression model to assess the influence of age, comorbidities, and all eight socio-environmental indices on health-care access, while evaluating the interaction with gender. Health-care access was measured using absolute and relative cancer care expertise indexes.FindingsIn total, 594,372 patients were included: 290,658 (49%) women and 303,714 (51%) men. With the exception of unemployment, all socio-environmental indices, age, and comorbidities were inversely correlated with health-care access. However, notable interactions with gender were observed, with a stronger association between socio-environmental factors and health-care access in women than in men. In particular, inaccessibility to public transport (coefficient for absolute cancer care expertise index = -1.10 [-1.22, -0.99], p < 0.0001), familial hardship (-0.64 [-0.72, -0.55], p < 0.0001), social isolation (-0.38 [-0.46, -0.30], p < 0.0001), insecurity (-0.29 [-0.37, -0.21], p < 0.0001), and economic deprivation (-0.13 [-0.19, -0.07], p < 0.0001) had a strong negative impact on health-care access in women.InterpretationAccess to cancer care is determined by a complex interplay of gender and various socio-environmental factors. While gender is a significant component, it operates within the context of multiple socio-environmental influences. Future work should focus on developing targeted interventions to address these multifaceted barriers and promote equitable health-care access for both genders.FundingNone.