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Use of Multiple Sex Venues and Prevalence of HIV Risk Behavior: Identifying High-Risk Men Who Have Sex with Men

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Abstract

The National HIV/AIDS Strategy emphasizes the importance of bringing prevention to the most at risk populations. Interventions targeting all men who have sex with men (MSM) fail in that respect because only a minority engages in behavior that is likely to lead to HIV infection. Previous studies have shown that MSM who seek male sexual partners in more than one venue type (e.g., bathhouse, cruising area, online) are most likely to engage in unprotected anal intercourse (UAI), compared to men who only meet partners in any one of these setting types or who do not use venues. The present study reports differences in prevalence of UAI among MSM by their use of venue sites to meet sexual partners. A probability sample of 459 bathhouse patrons completed exit surveys. In the 3 months before the current bathhouse visit, 63.5 % visited a bathhouse (not including the visit at which they were recruited), 46.7 % visited a cruising area, 46.5 % used online cruise sites to find sex partners, and 30.9 % reported UAI. While UAI was associated with online cruise site use, prevalence of UAI with men met online was relatively low. The odds of UAI among men who used all three venues were significantly higher compared to men using zero [odds ratio (OR) = 4.4; 95 % confidence interval (CI) 1.6, 12.1)] one (OR = 5.3; 95 % CI 2.2, 12.8) or two venues (OR = 4.3; 95 % CI 1.9, 9.6). The findings suggest that prevention would benefit from screening for venue use to help identify men with the greatest behavioral risk.

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Acknowledgments

We want to express our deepest thanks to our project directors, Paul Cotten and Bob Siedle-Khan; our study team members, Justin Bailey, Scott Carroll, Louis Cullen, Jason Euren, Trevor Hoppe, James Moser, Gabriel Ortiz, Mateo Rutherford, Ted Tallase; and the club managers, staff and patrons, in particular all the survey participants. This work was funded by the National Institute of Mental Health: R01 MH071159. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIMH. Some of the data contained in this article have been presented previously in a poster presented at the 2011 National HIV Prevention Conference, Atlanta, GA, USA, 14–17 August 2011.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Epidemiology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Zachary Y. Kerr

  2. Center for AIDS Prevention Studies, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, 94105, USA

    Lance M. Pollack, William J. Woods & Diane Binson

  3. Washington, DC, USA

    Johnny Blair

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  1. Zachary Y. Kerr
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  2. Lance M. Pollack
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  4. Johnny Blair
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  5. Diane Binson
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Correspondence to William J. Woods.

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Kerr, Z.Y., Pollack, L.M., Woods, W.J. et al. Use of Multiple Sex Venues and Prevalence of HIV Risk Behavior: Identifying High-Risk Men Who Have Sex with Men. Arch Sex Behav 44, 443–451 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0352-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-014-0352-9

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