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Is Sex with Older Male Partners Associated with Higher Sexual Risk Behavior Among Young Black MSM?

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Abstract

Participants at a sexual health clinic completed a survey with questions regarding sexual risk behavior and partner characteristics. Of 585 participants eligible for analysis, 124 reported generally having older male partners. These participants were significantly more likely to be HIV-infected (p < 0.001), have four or more sex partners as a “bottom” (p = 0.04), have concurrent partners (p = 0.01), and have partners suspected of having an sexually transmitted infection (p = 0.05) than participants without older partners. With analysis restricted to HIV− individuals, risk behaviors did not differ significantly between the groups. HIV− individuals with older partners may be at increased risk of HIV infection due to increased HIV prevalence among older sexual partners and not due to increased risk behaviors with these partners.

Resumen

Nuestro objetivo fue determinar si tener parejas sexuales masculinas de mayor edad conlleva un riesgo elevado entre los hombres negros jóvenes y las mujeres transexuales que tienen relaciones sexuales con hombres. En una clínica de salud sexual, los participantes completaron una encuesta con preguntas relacionadas con sus comportamiento de riesgo sexual y las características de sus parejas sexuales. De los 585 participantes elegibles para el análisis, 124 reportaron tener generalmente parejas masculinas mayores que ellos. Estos participantes fueron significativamente más propensos a estar infectados por el VIH (p < 0.001), tener cuatro o más parejas sexuales como “pasivos” (p = 0.04), tener parejas concurrentes (p = 0.01) y tener parejas sospechosas de tener una ITS (p = 0.05) que los participantes sin parejas mayores que ellos. Con el análisis restringido a los individuos VIH-negativos, los comportamientos de riesgo no difirieron significativamente entre los grupos. Las personas VIH-negativas con parejas mayores que ellos pueden estar en mayor riesgo de infección por VIH debido al aumento de la prevalencia del VIH entre las parejas sexuales de mayor edad y no debido al aumento de comportamientos de riesgo con estas parejas.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the invaluable contributions made by the Clinical and Nursing Staff at the Crossroads Clinic and the Open Arms Healthcare Center and all the volunteers that participated in this study. This work was supported by a Grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH092226).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, University of Mississippi Medical Center, 2500 North State Street, Jackson, MS, 39213, USA

    Nicholas Chamberlain & Leandro A. Mena

  2. The Satcher Health Leadership Institute, Morehouse School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Angelica Geter

  3. College of Public Health, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA

    Richard A. Crosby

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  1. Nicholas Chamberlain
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  2. Leandro A. Mena
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  3. Angelica Geter
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  4. Richard A. Crosby
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Correspondence to Nicholas Chamberlain.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the Institutional and/or National Research Committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Chamberlain, N., Mena, L.A., Geter, A. et al. Is Sex with Older Male Partners Associated with Higher Sexual Risk Behavior Among Young Black MSM?. AIDS Behav 21, 2526–2532 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1699-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-017-1699-4

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