Latent classes of partner-seeking venues and sexual risk among men who have sex with men in Paris, France

Abstract

In France, men who have sex with men (MSM) experience the highest HIV incidence. MSM who use multiple venues such as bars and smartphone apps to find sexual partners have greater HIV and sexually transmitted infection risk than those who use a single physical or online venue. To explore the role of venues and sexual behavior on HIV risk, we used latent class analysis to highlight underlying profiles of 580 MSM in Paris, France. Three latent classes emerged: Multi-venue Users (19%), Non-serosorting App Users (49%), and Serosorting App Users (32%). Multi-venue Users had the highest probabilities of condomless receptive anal intercourse (CRAI) and condomless insertive anal intercourse (CIAI), group sex, and meeting partners at venues such as bars or online. Non-serosorting App Users had the lowest probabilities of CRAI, CIAI, and condomless serosorting. Serosorting App Users had an 87% chance of condomless serosorting. MSM reporting a pre-exposure prophylaxis history had 14 and 5 times the odds of being classified as Multi-venue Users and Serosorting App Users than Non-serosorting App Users. MSM were 3% more likely to be Multi-venue Users than Non-serosorting App Users for every one-year increase in age. Interventions addressing sexual risk behaviors among MSM in France should consider tailored risk-reduction and prevention messaging.

Spatio‐temporal changes in pre‐exposure prophylaxis uptake among MSM in mainland France between 2016 and 2021: a Bayesian small area approach with MSM population estimation

“…Third, we applied the EMIS‐2017‐based psychosocial determinants for all periods included, assuming these determinants were stable and comparable between 2016S1 and 2021S1. Given the established increasing trends of some of the included determinants, such as the STIs incidence [ 39 ], CAI [ 40 ] and chemsex [ 41 ], our estimations may be underestimated. Finally, due to a wording issue in the French‐language version (possible confound between STI testing and diagnosis) of EMIS‐2017, we extrapolated the proportion of MSM with an STI diagnosis in the preceding 5‐year from participants in France completing the survey in languages other than French [ 27 ].…”