HIV infection and its associated factors among men who have sex with men in Shenyang

Objective To investigate HIV-related knowledge,high risk behavior and HIV/syphilis infection rate among men who have sex with men(MSM)in Shenyang.Methods A face-to-face questionnaire interview was conducted among MSM recruited by using Respondent Driven Sampling(RDS)method.Questionnaire survey was carried out among MSM by trained medical professionals.Variables included social demographic characteristics,HIV/AIDS awareness,sexual behaviors,status of the intervention and HIV/syphilis infection rate.χ2 test was used for statistical analysis.Results A total of 900 MSM were surveyed.The rate of HIV/AIDS awareness was 91.3% among MSM.The rate of anal sex during the past 6 months was 86.9% and only 57.5% of them used condom consistently.The prevalence of HIV and syphilis was 9.3% and 11.0%,respectively.The analysis identified that the older MSM,junior middle schooling or below,unprotected anal intercourse and syphilis infection were risk factors associated with HIV infection.Conclusion The rate of high risk behavior was high,so were the prevalence of HIV and syphilis among MSM.They may become a source of HIV/AIDS epidemic.It is urgent to provide effective health education and behavioral intervention targeting to them.