Sexual Behavior and Network Characteristics and Their Association with Bacterial Sexually Transmitted Infections among Black Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States

• Published in: PloS one 2015-12, Vol.10 (12), p.e0146025-e0146025
• Main Authors: Scott, Hyman M, Irvin, Risha, Wilton, Leo, Van Tieu, Hong, Watson, Chauncey, Magnus, Manya, Chen, Iris, Gaydos, Charlotte, Hussen, Sophia A, Mannheimer, Sharon, Mayer, Kenneth, Hessol, Nancy A, Buchbinder, Susan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; African American men; African Americans - psychology; African Continental Ancestry Group - psychology; Bacteria; Black people; Chlamydia Infections - etiology; Chlamydia Infections - psychology; Cohort Studies; Demographics; Demography; Feasibility studies; Gays & lesbians; Gonorrhea; Gonorrhea - etiology; Gonorrhea - psychology; Health aspects; Health risk assessment; Health risks; HIV; HIV Infections - etiology; HIV Infections - psychology; Homosexuality, Male - psychology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Infections; Male; Medical diagnosis; Men; Men who have sex with men; Mens health; Middle Aged; MSM (Men who have sex with men); Multivariate analysis; Prevalence; Racial discrimination; Regression analysis; Risk assessment; Risk behavior; Risk Factors; Risk taking; Sex; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - psychology; Sexual partners; Sexual Partners - psychology; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - etiology; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - psychology; Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Bacterial - etiology; Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Bacterial - psychology; Social behavior; Social organization; STD; Syphilis; Syphilis - etiology; United States; Young Adult
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0146025

Black men who have sex with men (MSM) have a high prevalence of bacterial sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and individual risk behavior does not fully explain the higher prevalence when compared with other MSM. Using the social-ecological framework, we evaluated individual, social and sexual network, and structural factors and their association with prevalent STIs among Black MSM. The HIV Prevention Trials Network 061 was a multi-site cohort study designed to determine the feasibility and acceptability of a multi-component intervention for Black MSM in six US cities. Baseline assessments included demographics, risk behavior, and social and sexual network questions collected information about the size, nature and connectedness of their sexual network. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of having any prevalent sexually transmitted infection (gonorrhea, chlamydia, or syphilis). A total of 1,553 Black MSM were enrolled in this study. In multivariate analysis, older age (aOR = 0.57; 95% CI 0.49-0.66, p