Partners met via sex parties have significantly greater odds for anal sex without condoms: An event-level analysis of men who have sex with men from bars/clubs, Craigslist.org, and sex parties

Background: Research suggests that the venues where men who have sex with men (MSM) meet their male sex partners is associated with engaging in anal intercourse with no condoms (AINC). Emerging studies have highlighted that MSM who attend sex parties may be at particularly elevated risk for AINC.

Methods: N=147 MSM completed time-line follow-back interviews about their sexual behavior and the venues where they met their male partners in the prior 30 days (n=1,836 sexual events, of which n=1,180 were with first-time (new) male partners). Mean age was 37, 23.6% were self-reported HIV-positive and 70.9% HIV-negative. Eighty-seven percent were gay identified.

Results: We used multivariate GEE models to account for the nested nature of the data. Controlling for the participant’s HIV status, the presumed HIV status of the partner (seroconcordant vs. serodiscordant), participant’s age, whether the sexual event occurred under the influence of club drugs, and the venue in which participant was recruited (i.e., online vs. gay bars/clubs vs. sex parties), meeting a partner via a sex party (n=461 events) presented significantly greater odds for AINC, compared to meeting a partner at a gay bar/club (n=97, AOR=.43), online (n=224, AOR=.42), in a bathhouse (n=90, AOR=.35), or via “other” venues (n=431, AOR=.35), all p < .01.

Conclusions: These findings highlight the need to innovative targeted HIV and STI prevention initiatives for men who attend sex parties. Such initiatives could include free condom distribution, on-site HIV and STI screening, and biomedical interventions (PrEP and TASP).