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Infrequent STI Testing in New York City Among High Risk Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals Interested In Self- and Partner-Testing

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Abstract

Testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) remains low among sexual and gender minority populations. We assessed STI testing history using a retrospective survey among 129 HIV-negative cisgender men who have sex with men (cMSM) and transgender women who have sex with men (tWSM) who were at high risk for STI acquisition. All participants were enrolled in a parent study on self- and partner-testing for HIV and syphilis, and reported condomless anal intercourse with multiple partners during the prior 3 months. We additionally used bivariate tests to evaluate participants’ STI testing by their history of using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). One-in-seven respondents (n = 18) reported having never tested for an STI, one-quarter (n = 33) had not tested in the past year, and two-thirds (n = 83) had never used PrEP. PrEP-naïve respondents were less likely to report recent STI testing (47% vs. 85%). “Routine doctor’s visit” was the most prevalent reason for testing, but was less common among PrEP-naïve respondents (83% vs. 100%). Testing was remarkably low given the sample’s high risk of HIV and STI infection. Findings suggest that STI testing is more frequent among those who have ever used PrEP, but the risk of selection bias warrants evaluation in a larger probability sample.

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Data Availability

Reasonable requests for de-identified participant data may be submitted to the corresponding author.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (5R01HD088156, Principal Investigator: Iván Balán, PhD), the National Institute of Mental Health (K23MH124569, Principal Investigator: Bryan Kutner, PhD, MPH; T32MH019139, Principal Investigator: Theodorus Sandfort, PhD; P30MH043520, Principal Investigator: Robert Remien, PhD), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (K23AI150378 and L30AI133789, Principal Investigator: Jason Zucker, MD; UM1AI069470, Principal Investigator: Magdalena Sobieszczyk).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The HIV Center for Clinical and Behavioral Studies at the New York State Psychiatric Institute and Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Bryan A. Kutner, Cody Lentz, Curtis Dolezal & Iván C. Balán

  2. Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY, USA

    Jason Zucker

  3. Department of Community Health & Prevention, Dornsife School of Public Health Drexel University, 3215 Market street, Nesbitt Hall, 4th Fl., Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Javier López-Rios

  4. Center for Translational Behavioral Science, Department of Behavioral Sciences and Social Medicine, Florida State University College of Medicine, 2010 Levy Ave Building B, Suite B0266, Tallahassee, FL, 32310, USA

    Iván C. Balán

Authors
  1. Bryan A. Kutner
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  2. Jason Zucker
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  3. Javier López-Rios
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  4. Cody Lentz
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  5. Curtis Dolezal
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  6. Iván C. Balán
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Contributions

CL, JL-R, and ICB performed the research. BAK, JZ, and ICB designed the research study. BAK, JZ, CD, and ICB analyzed the data. BAK, JZ, JL-R, CD, CL, and ICB wrote the paper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Iván C. Balán.

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Conflict of interest

Authors report grants from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and National Institute of Mental Health during the conduct of the study. No other interests to report.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Not applicable.

Ethical Approval

This research project was approved by the Institutional Review Board at the New York State Psychiatric Institute.

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Kutner, B.A., Zucker, J., López-Rios, J. et al. Infrequent STI Testing in New York City Among High Risk Sexual and Gender Minority Individuals Interested In Self- and Partner-Testing. AIDS Behav 26, 1153–1162 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03468-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-021-03468-6

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