HIV Testing and HIV Serostatus-Specific Sexual Risk Behaviour Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Living in England and Recruited Through the Internet in 2001 and 2008

Ford Hickson; Chris Bonell; James Hargreaves; David Reid; Peter Weatherburn

doi:10.1007/s13178-012-0106-1

HIV Testing and HIV Serostatus-Specific Sexual Risk Behaviour Among Men Who Have Sex with Men Living in England and Recruited Through the Internet in 2001 and 2008

Sex Res Social Policy. 2013;10(1):15-23. doi: 10.1007/s13178-012-0106-1.

Authors

Ford Hickson¹, Chris Bonell², James Hargreaves³, David Reid¹, Peter Weatherburn¹

Affiliations

¹ Sigma Research, Department of Social and Environmental Health Research, Faculty of Public Health & Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, 15-17 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9SH UK.
² Department of Social Policy and Intervention, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
³ Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK.

Abstract

Using data from two large internet-recruited surveys in England in 2001 and 2008, we examine HIV status-specific patterns of unprotected anal intercourse (UAI). In adjusted comparisons between our 2008 and 2001 samples, there was evidence of a greater proportion of men living with diagnosed HIV, a reduction in sexual partners and in UAI with partners of unknown HIV status among men not tested HIV positive, increases in anal intercourse and UAI among men with diagnosed HIV and an increase in insertive UAI with HIV-positive men among men never tested for HIV. However, we found no evidence for increases in negotiated safety or sero-sorting. The data are compatible with a concentration of sexual risk among men with diagnosed HIV, countering an overall trend towards less risk taking among men not tested HIV positive.

Keywords: Anal sex; England; HIV-1; Homosexuality; Male; Risk reduction.