Factors associated with recent HIV testing among men who have sex with men in New York City

Understanding factors associated with recent HIV testing among men who have sex with men (MSM) is important for designing interventions to increase testing rates and link cases to care. A cross-sectional study of MSM was conducted in NYC in 2011 using venue-based sampling. Associations between HIV testing in the past 12 months and relevant variables were examined through the estimation of prevalence ratios (PR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI). Of 448 participants, 107 (23.9 %) had not been tested in the past 12 months. Factors independently associated with not testing in the previous 12 months were: lack of a visit to a healthcare provider in the past 12 months (aPR: 2.5; 95 % CI: 1.9, 3.2); age ≥30 (adjusted PR: 1.9; 95 % CI: 1.4, 2.7); not having completed a bachelor’s degree (aPR: 1.6; 95 % CI: 1.0, 2.4); and non-gay sexual identity (aPR: 1.4; 95 % CI: 1.0, 1.8); such MSM may be less aware of the need for frequent HIV testing.