TY - JOUR
T1 - Online sex-seeking among Chinese heterosexual men who seek care in sexually transmitted infections clinics
T2 - a cross-sectional study
AU - Li, Changchang
AU - Tang, Weiming
AU - Ho, Hung Chak
AU - Zhao, Peizhen
AU - Chen, Lei
AU - Wang, Yajie
AU - Xiong, Mingzhou
AU - Yang, Bin
AU - Zheng, Heping
AU - Wang, Cheng
N1 - © 2022. The Author(s).
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Background: The Internet has become an important virtual venue for men who have sex with men to seek sexual partners, with a high potential threat to spread sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, the online sex-seeking use and its risk causing STIs spread remain unclear among heterosexual men. We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the use of online sex-seeking venues and the related risky sex activities (e.g. condomless sex, quick sex) in STIs clinics in Guangdong, China.Methods: These STIs clinics were involved in the Guangdong governmental sentinel network and we recruited heterosexual men (age > = 18) between March and August 2018. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify the factors associated with online sex-seeking use and risky sex activities with online sex partners.Results: 191 of 2,154 participants (8.9%) ever sought sex online. Among users,16.8% met their partners in-person within 24 h, 31.4% engaged in condomless sex with their last online partner. Online sex-seeking was positively associated with a) Ever been diagnosed with STIs (aOR = 3.0, 95%CI:2.0-4.6), and b) Had casual sex in the last three months (aOR = 3.3, 95%CI 2.4-4.6). Condomless sex with the last online partner was negatively associated with the correct answer of "Having only one partner can reduce the risk to infect HIV" (aOR = 0.3, 95%CI:0.1-0.8).Conclusion: In China, online sex-seeking and its related risky sexual activities are not rare among heterosexual men. Future prevention strategies to reduce STIs incidence should especially target heterosexual men engaging in online sex-seeking.© The Author(s) 2022.
AB - Background: The Internet has become an important virtual venue for men who have sex with men to seek sexual partners, with a high potential threat to spread sexually transmitted infections (STIs). However, the online sex-seeking use and its risk causing STIs spread remain unclear among heterosexual men. We conducted a cross-sectional study to investigate the use of online sex-seeking venues and the related risky sex activities (e.g. condomless sex, quick sex) in STIs clinics in Guangdong, China.Methods: These STIs clinics were involved in the Guangdong governmental sentinel network and we recruited heterosexual men (age > = 18) between March and August 2018. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to identify the factors associated with online sex-seeking use and risky sex activities with online sex partners.Results: 191 of 2,154 participants (8.9%) ever sought sex online. Among users,16.8% met their partners in-person within 24 h, 31.4% engaged in condomless sex with their last online partner. Online sex-seeking was positively associated with a) Ever been diagnosed with STIs (aOR = 3.0, 95%CI:2.0-4.6), and b) Had casual sex in the last three months (aOR = 3.3, 95%CI 2.4-4.6). Condomless sex with the last online partner was negatively associated with the correct answer of "Having only one partner can reduce the risk to infect HIV" (aOR = 0.3, 95%CI:0.1-0.8).Conclusion: In China, online sex-seeking and its related risky sexual activities are not rare among heterosexual men. Future prevention strategies to reduce STIs incidence should especially target heterosexual men engaging in online sex-seeking.© The Author(s) 2022.
KW - Online sex-seeking
KW - Sexual behavior
KW - Heterosexual men
KW - Sexually transmitted infection
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85131053786&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - https://www.scopus.com/record/pubmetrics.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85131053786&origin=recordpage
U2 - 10.1186/s13690-022-00903-5
DO - 10.1186/s13690-022-00903-5
M3 - RGC 21 - Publication in refereed journal
C2 - 35650641
SN - 0778-7367
VL - 80
JO - Archives of Public Health
JF - Archives of Public Health
M1 - 149
ER -
