Abstract
Among 746 participants in the Three or More Study (TOMS) of gay men who engaged in group sex in the previous 6 months, 22.4% reported unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) with any partners they did not know to be the same HIV serostatus as themselves. Not knowing oneself to be HIV-negative, not having a clear intention to use condoms, and more frequent group sex were independently associated with UAI. This study shows that gay men who engage in group sex represent an important priority for targeted HIV prevention activities and research.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank the AIDS Council of New South Wales, the Victorian AIDS Council and the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities for collaboration with the project, and the men who have participated in the Three or More study. We also thank Professor Anthony Smith for methodological advice. Sponsorship The National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research and the Australian Research Centre in Sex Health and Society receive funding from the Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. TOMS was partly supported by the New South Wales Health Department. This funding agency had no further role: in study design; in the collection, analysis and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the paper for publication. Contributors Authors Prestage and Hudson designed the TOMS study and wrote the protocol. Authors Prestage and Hudson managed the literature searches and summaries of previous related work. Author Prestage undertook the statistical analysis, and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors contributed to and have approved the final manuscript.
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Prestage, G.P., Hudson, J., Down, I. et al. Gay Men Who Engage in Group Sex are at Increased Risk of HIV Infection and Onward Transmission. AIDS Behav 13, 724–730 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-008-9460-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-008-9460-7