Community sexual bridging may
influence the socio-geographic distribution of heterosexually transmitted HIV.
In a cross-sectional study, heterosexual adults at high-risk of HIV were
recruited in New York City (NYC) in 2010 for the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention-sponsored National HIV Behavioral Surveillance system. Eligible
participants were interviewed about their HIV risk behaviors and sexual
partnerships and tested for HIV.
Social network analysis of the geographic
location of participants' recent sexual partnerships was used to calculate
three sexual bridging measures (non-redundant ties, flow-betweenness and
walk-betweenness) for NYC communities (defined as United Hospital Fund
neighborhoods), which were plotted against HIV prevalence in each community.
The analysis sample comprised 494 participants and 1534 sexual partnerships.
Participants were 60.1 % male, 79.6 % non-Hispanic black and
19.6 % Hispanic race/ethnicity; the median age was 40 years (IQR
24-50); 37.7 % had ever been homeless (past 12 months); 16.6 %
had ever injected drugs; in the past 12 months 76.7 % used
non-injection drugs and 90.1 % engaged in condomless vaginal or anal sex;
9.6 % tested HIV positive (of 481 with positive/negative results).
Sexual
partnerships were located in 33 (78.6 %) of 42 NYC communities, including
13 "high HIV-spread communities", 7 "hidden bridging
communities", 0 "contained high HIV prevalence communities", and
13 "latent HIV bridging communities".
Compared with latent HIV
bridging communities, the population racial/ethnic composition was more likely
(p < 0.0001) to be black or Hispanic in high HIV-spread
communities and to be black in hidden bridging communities.
High HIV-spread and
hidden bridging communities may facilitate the maintenance and spread of
heterosexually transmitted HIV in black and Hispanic populations in NYC.
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By:
- 1HIV Epidemiology and Field Services Program, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York City, NY, USA. an2118@columbia.edu.
- 2Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA. an2118@columbia.edu.
- 3Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
- 4HIV Epidemiology and Field Services Program, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York City, NY, USA.
- 5Department of Sociology, Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea.
- 6College of Nursing, New York University, New York City, NY, USA.
- 7St. Ann's Corner of Harm Reduction, New York City, NY, USA.
- 8National Development and Research Institutes, New York City, NY, USA.
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