AEGiS-13IAC: The distribution of HIV infection among men who have sex with men : A household-based sample of four large urban centers in the USA.

13th International AIDS Conference

Durban, South Africa - July 9-July 14, 2000

The distribution of HIV infection among men who have sex with men : A household-based sample of four large urban centers in the USA.

Int Conf AIDS 2000 Jul 9-14; 13:(abstract no. ThOrC716)

Stall R, Catania J, Osmond D, Mills T, Binson D, Pollack L, Paul J
R. Stall, CAPS, 74 New Montgomery St, 6th Floor, San Fransisco, Ca 94105, United States, Tel.: +1 415 597 91 55, Fax: +1 415 597 91 25, E-mail: rstall@psg.ucsf.edu

OBJECTIVES: To describe the distribution of HIV infection in the first household-based sample (N = 2881) of MSM residents of Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco

METHODS: A household-based sample (N = 2881) of areas of the four cities shown to have a density of MSM residents of 1.6% or greater was taken using random digit dial telephone methods. ORASURE testing of a sample subset (n = 414) demonstrated that self-report of HIV status in this population is 100% specific and 98% sensitive.

RESULTS: The overall prevalence of HIV infection in the sample was 18%. In multivariate analysis, HIV prevalence was significantly higher among men with a history of injection drug use (OR = 2.8); men who reported at least weekly non-intravenous drug use (OR = 1.9); less closeted men (OR = 2.5), men with lower educational levels (OR = 1.8), African American men (OR = 3.3), men of middle age or older (OR = 7.6) and homosexually-identified men (OR = 3.3). In addition, substantial declines in HIV seroprevalence were detected in comparison to household-based samples of MSM residents of the same regions of San Francisco of the mid-1980's.

CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence of HIV infection has declined among MSM in San Francisco over the past 15 years, and has probably declined in other American epicenters as well. Nonetheless, important subsets of the gay male world (defined by substance use, age, education, ethnicity and homosexual identity) are identifiable sub-populations in which HIV infection rates remain elevated. These results suggest that the AIDS epidemic is continuing unabated among many segments of the American MSM population.

Keywords: AEGIS, HIV Infections, Family Characteristics, Prevalence, Coitus, HIV Seroprevalence, Sex, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, Homosexuality, HIV Seropositivity, Safe Sex, Disease Outbreaks, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Human, Male
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ThOrC716