HIV risk behavior among Black MSM who meet male sexual partners on the Internet

Background: Meeting sex partners on the Internet has been associated with elevated HIV risk among men who have sex with men (MSM), but little is known specific to Black MSM (BMSM).

Methods: In 2008, 197 BMSM were recruited via modified respondent-driven-sampling and completed an interviewer-administered quantitative assessment and voluntary HIV counseling and testing. Backwards elimination procedures were used to fit a final multivariable logistic regression model that examined factors associated with using the Internet to meet casual male sex partners in the past 12 months.

Results: 20% of the sample (39/197) reported having met casual male sex partners on the Internet in the prior year. In bivariate analyses, factors associated with having met male partners on the Internet were: private health insurance (OR=2.72; p=0.01), gay identification (OR=2.56; p=0.01), unprotected anal sex with a casual male partner (OR=2.76; p=0.02), number of male sex partners (OR=1.11; p=0.0003), unprotected sex with a female sex partner (OR=0.10; p=0.002), and club-drug-use during sex (OR=5.26; p=0.05). In a multivariable adjusted model, unprotected anal sex with a casual male (AOR=3.89; p=0.008) and unprotected sex with a female (AOR=0.05; p=0.004) were associated with an increased odds of using the Internet to meet male partners.

Conclusion: Although one-fifth of BMSM reported meeting male partners on the Internet, the majority did not meet partners online, suggesting that prevention activities need to target diverse environments where BMSM seek sex. Data underscore that the risk profile of Internet-using BMSM may be different from that of BMSM who do not use the Internet.