Epidemiological study on the status of HIV/STDs and relative behaviors among MSM in Beijing

OBJECTIVE: To understand the infected status of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) sexually transmitted disease (STD) and relative risk behaviors of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Beijing. METHODS: Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) was adopted to recruit target population and to conduct behavior and serological studies among MSM. RDSAT 5.5 was used to analyze data. RESULTS: Among 427 MSM the age distribution was as follows: below 30 and less than 35 were 65.4% and 81.0% respectively. 69.2% (95% CI: 63.9-75.5) of them had 12 years or less of education. 73.3% (95% CI: 66.7-79.8) of them were non-Beijing registered residents. The urban and rural registered residents almost accounted for half of all the recruits. HIV positive rate was 4.6% (95% CI: 2.2-7.6) while 56.3% (95% CI: 50.9-62.5) of them reported having had bisexual sex preference. Only 14.8% (95% CI: 10.8-19.6) of them had ever had HIV test while 22.8% (95% CI: 18.7-27.8) reported ever having had STDs. 55.3% (95% CI: 49.3-61.9) and 55.1% (95% CI: 48.7-61.3) of them had unprotected insert and receptive anal sex over the last 6 months. CONCLUSION: Data from the HIV positive rate showed that there was a trend of increase among MSM in Beijing which called for urgent care to them.