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Exchange Sex and HIV Infection Among Men Who Have Sex with Men: 20 US Cities, 2011

  • Behavioral Surveillance
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Abstract

This study assessed the prevalence of exchanging sex for money or drugs among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the 2011 US National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system. Prevalence of HIV, being HIV-positive but unaware (HIV-positive–unaware), risk behaviors and use of services were compared between MSM who did and did not receive money or drugs from one or more casual male partners in exchange for oral or anal sex in the past 12 months. Among 8411 MSM, 7.0 % exchanged sex. MSM who exchanged sex were more likely to be non-Hispanic black, live in poverty, have injected drugs, have multiple condomless anal sex partners, be HIV-positive and be HIV-positive–unaware. In multivariable analysis, exchange sex was associated with being HIV-positive–unaware (aPR 1.34, 95 % CI 1.05–1.69) after adjusting for race/ethnicity, age, education, poverty, and injecting drugs. MSM who exchange sex represent an important group to reach with HIV prevention, testing, and care services as they were more likely to report behavioral risk factors that put them at risk of HIV.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported in part by an appointment to the Research Participation Program at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention administered by the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education through an interagency agreement between the US Department of Energy and CDC.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road, MS-E46, Atlanta, GA, 30329, USA

    Lina M. Nerlander, Kristen L. Hess, Catlainn Sionean, Charles E. Rose, Dita Broz & Gabriela Paz-Bailey

  2. Department of Public Health Sciences, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden

    Lina M. Nerlander & Anna Thorson

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  1. Lina M. Nerlander
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Correspondence to Lina M. Nerlander.

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Conflict of Interest

Lina M. Nerlander, Kristen L. Hess, Catlainn Sionean, Charles E. Rose, Anna Thorson, Dita Broz and Gabriela Paz-Bailey declares that they have no conflict of interest.

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The findings and conclusions in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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

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M. Nerlander, L., Hess, K.L., Sionean, C. et al. Exchange Sex and HIV Infection Among Men Who Have Sex with Men: 20 US Cities, 2011. AIDS Behav 21, 2283–2294 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-016-1450-6

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