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Relative Risk for HIV Infection Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Engaging in Different Roles in Anal Sex: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Global Data

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Abstract

We systematically reviewed and meta-analyzed global data on the relative risk for HIV infection among men who have sex with men (MSM) engaging in different roles in anal sex. MSM engaging in receptive anal sex only (MRAI) and MSM engaging in both insertive and receptive anal sex (MIRAI) were 6.9 (95 % CI 5.5–8.6) and 4.3 (95 % CI 3.6–5.3) times more likely to have prevalent HIV compared to MSM engaging in insertive anal sex only (MIAI) in 1981–1985. These figures were 1.8 (95 % CI 1.6–2.0) and 2.2 (95 % CI 2.0–2.4) in 1986–2010. Overall, MRAI and MIRAI were 6.2 (95 % CI 3.3–11.8) and 6.6 (95 % CI 3.8–11.7) times more likely to develop incident HIV infection compared to MIAI. MRAI are at higher risk for HIV infection compared to MIAI. HIV prevalence among men engaging in all roles in anal sex is high enough that all MSM should be aware of potential risk.

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Conflict of interest

All of authors declared no conflicts of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wuxi Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Wuxi, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Xiaojun Meng, Xuan Zhang & Bing Lu

  2. School of Public Health and Community Medicine, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, 2052, Australia

    Huachun Zou

  3. School of Population and Global Health, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, VIC, Australia

    Huachun Zou & Xin Dai

  4. Melbourne Sexual Health Centre, Alfred Health, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Huachun Zou

  5. Centre for Population Health, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Huachun Zou

  6. Evidence-based Medicine Center, School of Public Health, Luzhou Medical College, Luzhou, Sichuan, People’s Republic of China

    Song Fan

  7. Suzhou Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 72 Sanxiang Road, Langcang District, Suzhou, Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China

    Benfeng Zheng

  8. Clinical Laboratory, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, People’s Republic of China

    Lin Zhang

  9. Division of Medical Quality Control, Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital of Xiamen, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China

    Minli Deng

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  1. Xiaojun Meng
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Correspondence to Huachun Zou.

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Xiaojun Meng and Huachun Zou contributed equally to the manuscript.

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Meng, X., Zou, H., Fan, S. et al. Relative Risk for HIV Infection Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Engaging in Different Roles in Anal Sex: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Global Data. AIDS Behav 19, 882–889 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-014-0921-x

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