RESEARCH ARTICLE
Do Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) in the United States Understand that HIV Serodiscordance is Possible?
Bradley H. Wagenaar1, Kristina L. Grabbe2, Rob Stephenson3, Christine M. Khosropour1, Patrick S. Sullivan*, 1
Article Information
Identifiers and Pagination:
Year: 2013Volume: 7
First Page: 14
Last Page: 16
Publisher ID: TOAIDJ-7-14
DOI: 10.2174/1874613620130513001
Article History:
Received Date: 29/11/2012Revision Received Date: 26/4/2013
Acceptance Date: 29/4/2013
Electronic publication date: 20/9/2013
Collection year: 2013
open-access license: This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted, non-commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited.
Abstract
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.
