Sexually Transmitted Disease Diagnoses among Hispanic Immigrant & Migrant Men Who Have Sex with Men in the United States

Hispanic immigrant/migrant men who have sex with men should be at higher risk for sexually transmitted disease/human immunodeficiency virus (STD/HIV) infections given individual-level factors associated with the migration process that have been theorised to increase susceptibility to STD/HIV infections among migrant populations, yet relatively little is known if these individual level factors are actually associated with a sexually transmitted disease infection among this population.

During 2005-2007, 2576 men and women foreign-born Hispanics were surveyed at three community-based organisations offering services to immigrant/migrant communities. We analysed demographic characteristics, sexual risk behaviours, migration patterns, and factors associated with a sexually transmitted disease diagnoses (syphilis, chlamydia, and gonorrhea) in the past 12 months among Hispanic immigrant/migrant men who have sex with men.

Of 1482 Hispanic immigrant/migrant men surveyed who reported having sex in the past 12 months, 353 (24%) reported sex with a man, and of these, 302 answered questions regarding whether or not they had been diagnosed with a bacterial sexually transmitted disease in the past year. Of these 302 men, 25% reported being married; 42% self-identified as being heterosexual and 20% as bisexual. Twenty-nine (9.6%) men reported that they received a sexually transmitted disease diagnosis in the past year. In the multivariate logistic regression model, men who reported receiving money or goods for sex had increased odds of a self-reported sexually transmitted disease diagnosis.

The prevalence of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases among Hispanic immigrant/migrant men who have sex with men is lower than the prevalence of bacterial sexually transmitted diseases among other men who have sex with men in the United States. Nevertheless, receiving money or goods for sex was significantly associated with a self-reported sexually transmitted disease diagnosis among Hispanic immigrant/migrant men who have sex with men. It is important to understand factors contributing to participation in exchange sex among this population. Human immunodeficiency virus/sexually transmitted disease prevention interventions tailored to non-gay identifying men who have sex with men are important for Hispanic immigrant/migrant men who have sex with men.

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By: Valverde EE1, DiNenno EA2, Schulden JD3, Oster A2, Painter T2.

• 1Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA evalverde@cdc.gov.
• 2Division of HIV/AIDS Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA, USA.
• 3National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health (NIH) Neuroscience Center, Bethesda, MD, USA.  

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