Gay men with casual partners, sexual role and HIV infection.

MARONE R; PANDO MA; AVILA MM; SALOMON H; SQUIQUERA L

Toronto

Conferencia; XVI International AIDS Conference; 2006

IAS

Background: we analyzed the relation among sexual role (Receptive, Insertive or Versatile) in Gay Men (MSM) with occasional sexual partners and the relationship with HIV diagnosis. The sexual role in each subject was characterized considering the frequencies of different practices with their casual sexual partners. From these data they were grouped into the three aforementioned categories. It was intentionally avoided the auto-definition of role to avoid possible biases in the personal characterization due to social stigma usually attribute to roles, e.g. femininity socially associated to receptive role. Methods: the population included a total of 1589 cases; the data were collected during pre HIV test counseling in persons undergoing voluntary testing in NEXO AC - Buenos Aires, Argentina during 2000-2005. Results: The sample included 1589 men that reported Casual Sex with one or more men at the time of data collection. The average age was 31.19 years, and 65.6% were tested for HIV at least once. HIV prevalece was 11.7%. A significant association was detected among HIV infection and role “versatile” in anal sex, being the prevalence of HIV significantly higher in those with role “versatile” (13.8%), in comparison with a role “more insertive” (8.5%) or “more receptive” (11.1%) (p=0.017). For oral sex, a significant association regarding the diagnosis of HIV (p=0.033). The proportion of Seropositives for HIV according to Role was: “more receptive” = 15%, “versatile” = 12.5% and “more insertive” = 8.6%. Analyzing the relation in roles for the 186 HIV positive cases a significant relationship was established with Roles Anal and Oral. Most cases (42.5%) were grouped in the Role “versatile” for each type or sexual practice. Conclusions: Different to the common idea, in this study we found the association within the versatile role. It’s probably needed to consider the reformulation of the HIV prevention programs considering the diversity in sexual behaviors.