Will Gay Sex–Seeking Mobile Phone Applications Facilitate Group Sex? A Cross-Sectional Online Survey among Men Who Have Sex with Men in China

Tang, Weiming; Tang, Songyuan; Qin, Yilu; Zhang, Ye; Zhang, Wei; Liu, Chuncheng; Tso, Lai Sze; Wei, Chongyi; Yang, Ligang; Huang, Shujie; Yang, Bin; Tucker, Joseph D.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0167238

Cited by 41 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…The genotypes of T. pallidum strains among the MSM group were diverse, consistent with the multiple partnerships and the high-risk behaviors among MSM, which can be facilitated by social networking platforms on mobile devices (39)(40)(41). The diversity is also attributable to the geographic broadness of the MSM community.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Circulation of Distinct Treponema pallidum Strains in Individuals with Heterosexual Orientation and Men Who Have Sex with Men

Kojima

Furubayashi²,

Kawahata

et al. 2019

J Clin Microbiol

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Human treponematosis is caused by various pathogenic Treponema pallidum subspecies, including T. pallidum subsp. pallidum, T. pallidum subsp. pertenue, T. pallidum subsp. endemicum, and Treponema carateum. The global prevalence of syphilis has been increasing since the 2000s. Men account for more than 90% of the cases, with the majority being men who have sex with men (MSM). In Japan, the increase in the number of syphilis patients began in 2011, a 10-year delay from the global trend. In 2017, a total of 5,829 syphilis cases (3,934 men and 1,895 women) were reported, with an outstanding increase in cases among young adult women; the number reported for women age 15 to 20 years was 1,100. Hence, a molecular epidemiological study was conducted on circulating T. pallidum strains using two strain typing methods, the enhanced CDC method and sequencing-based molecular typing. Clinical specimens from 95 adults suspected of syphilis were collected from September 2013 to August 2017 in Osaka, Japan. T. pallidum DNA was detected in specimens from 25 males and 11 females, including seven MSM. The majority of the heterosexual patients (66.7% and 90.9% of males and females, respectively) were positive for 14d/f-SSR8. In contrast, the genotypes identified in the MSM group were significantly divergent. T. pallidum subsp. endemicum was notably identified in two MSM patients. Macrolide-sensitive or Nichols-like strains were significantly associated with the MSM group. These data suggest that distinct T. pallidum strains were circulating in the heterosexual and MSM groups. Our findings imply that independent factors may contribute to the increased syphilis prevalence in heterosexual and MSM populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 62%

Circulation of Distinct Treponema pallidum Strains in Individuals with Heterosexual Orientation and Men Who Have Sex with Men

Kojima

Furubayashi²,

Kawahata

et al. 2019

J Clin Microbiol

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“…Studies on the use of smartphone applications to seek for sex are scarce, as this phenomenon arose approximately 10 years ago, with the popularization of social networks, and migrated from comprehensive platforms to specific communities for this purpose. Studies indicate that applications expand the possibility of intercourse between casual partners and increase the chance of unsafe sex 26,27 , since they facilitate social interactions between unknown individuals. The association between the use of smartphone applications and RSB stands out because despite the high schooling level of this population and the report of having casual sexual partners, they do not use condoms regularly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Risky sexual behavior and associated factors in undergraduate students in a city in Southern Brazil

2020

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OBJECTIVE: To describe the sexual behavior of freshmen undergraduate students according to demographic, economic, psychosocial and behavioral characteristics, and evaluate the prevalence of risky sexual behavior and its associated factors. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of the census type with undergraduate students over 18 years old of 80 undergraduate courses of the Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPel), in Rio Grande do Sul (RS), who entered in the first semester of 2017 and remained enrolled in the second semester. Undergraduate students who reported having had sex were evaluated. We considered as risky sexual behavior having more than one sexual partner within the last three months and not having used condoms in the last sexual intercourse. RESULTS: The prevalence of risky sexual behavior was 9% (95%CI 7.6–10.5). Men presented more risky behavior than women, with a prevalence of 10.8% and 7.5%, respectively. Of the undergraduate students, 45% did not use condoms in the last sexual intercourse, and 24% had two partners or more within three months before the survey. Smartphone applications for sexual purposes were used by 23% of students within three months before the survey. Risky sexual behavior was associated with gender, age at first sexual intercourse, frequency of alcohol consumption, consumption of psychoactive substances before the last sexual intercourse and use of smartphone applications for sexual purposes. CONCLUSION: Although undergraduate students are expected to be an informed population, the prevalence of risky sexual behavior was important, indicating the need to expand public investment in sexual education and awareness actions.

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“…Considerations of interpretability and class separation also informed choice of the optimal class number. Latent class model items included the following HIV acquisition risk factors that were available in both of the analysis datasets: 1) more than one sexual partner in the past 6 months [30]; 2) any reporting of recent unprotected anal intercourse (UAI) [31, 32]; 3) preferece as the receptive partner during anal sex (verus inserive; those indicating both positions were classified as receptive preferring) [33]; 4) any reporting of recent group sex [34–37]; 5) age at first sex with another man [38, 39] younger than the median debut age of 20; 6) use of the internet or mobile phone apps as the primary means of seeking sexual partners [40, 41], 7) those indicating "gay" for their sexual orientation (versus straight, bisexual, or “other”), and 8) any reporting of recent drug use (including poppers, ecstasy, methamphetamines, or other recreational drugs) [42–44]. “Recency” of drug use was defined as within the past year for the nationwide online survey, and within the past 6 months for the Guangzhou sentinel surveillance data.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Identifying high risk subgroups of MSM: a latent class analysis using two samples

et al. 2019

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Background Latent class analyses (LCA) are increasingly being used to target specialized HIV interventions, but generalizability of emergent population structures across settings has yet to be considered. We compare LCA performed on two online samples of HIV negative Chinese men who have sex with men (MSM) to detect more generalizable latent class structures and to assess the extent to which sampling considerations impact the validity of LCA results. Methods LCAs were performed on an 1) nationwide online survey which involved no in-person contact with study staff and a 2) sentinel surveillance survey in which participants underwent HIV and syphilis testing in the city of Guangzhou, both conducted in 2014. Models for each sample were informed by risk factors for HIV acquisition in MSM that were common to both datasets. Results An LCA of the Guangzhou sentinel surveillance data indicated the presence of two relatively similar classes, differing only by the greater tendency of one to report group sex. In contrast an LCA of the nationwide survey identified three classes, two of which shared many of the same features as those identified in the Guangzhou survey, including the fact that they were mainly distinguished by group sex behaviors. The final latent class in the nationwide survey was composed of members with notably few risk behaviors. Conclusions Comparisons of the latent class structures of each sample lead us to conclude that the nationwide online sample captured a larger, possibly more representative group of Chinese MSM comprised of a larger, higher risk group and a small yet distinct lower group with few reported behaviors. The absence of a lower risk group in the Guangzhou sentinel surveillance dataset suggests that MSM recruited into studies involving free HIV/STI testing may oversample MSM with higher risk behaviors and therefore greater risk perception. Lastly, two types of higher risk MSM were emergent across both samples distinguished largely by their recent group sex behaviors. Higher odds not only of self-reported HIV infection but also of closeted tendencies and gender fluid identities in this highest risk group suggest that interacting factors drive individual and structural facets of HIV risk.

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Will Gay Sex–Seeking Mobile Phone Applications Facilitate Group Sex? A Cross-Sectional Online Survey among Men Who Have Sex with Men in China

Cited by 41 publications

References 22 publications

Circulation of Distinct Treponema pallidum Strains in Individuals with Heterosexual Orientation and Men Who Have Sex with Men

Circulation of Distinct Treponema pallidum Strains in Individuals with Heterosexual Orientation and Men Who Have Sex with Men

Risky sexual behavior and associated factors in undergraduate students in a city in Southern Brazil

Identifying high risk subgroups of MSM: a latent class analysis using two samples

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