Do Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) in the United States Understand that HIV Serodiscordance is Possible?

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Open AIDS J
• Personal Author:
  Wagenaar, Bradley H. ; Grabbe, Kristina L. ; Stephenson, Rob ; Khosropour, Christine M. ; Sullivan, Patrick S.
• Description:
  Background
  
  Little is currently known about the extent to which US MSM understand the possibility that a long-term sex partner can have an HIV status different than one’s own status. This information is important in the adaptation of Couples Voluntary HIV Counseling and Testing (CVCT) for US MSM.
  
  Methods
  
  428 US MSM completed an online survey using MySpace.com from March-April, 2009.
  
  Results
  
  Of 426 MSM with complete data, 21.1% (90) were not definitively aware that serodiscordance is possible. Factors associated with a lack of understanding that serodiscordance is possible were: never having tested for HIV (OR: 2.0; CI: 1.1, 3.8), compared to testing 0-6 months previously and having a high school education or less (OR: 2.2; CI: 1.1, 4.5), compared to men who had completed at least some college.
  
  Conclusions
  
  A large proportion of young, internet-using MSM in the United States may not understand that HIV serodiscordance is possible within sexual partnerships. Based on these results, we recommend that CVCT provided to male couples in the United States should include education on HIV serodiscordance.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Article CVCT Epidemiology. HIV/AIDS HIV Knowledge HIV Serodiscordance
• Source:
  Open AIDS J. 2013; 7:14-16.
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Volume:
  7
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:47917554ddf58d1ece426a1561a4f5b734ca419c6d65ef141ec33e5f1f6276a0
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/21186/cdc_21186_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 43.76 KB ]