(P231) Sex venue preferences and HIV/STIs risks for Chinese men who have sex with men: A latent class analysis

Introduction: Past studies have found that sexual venue choices among men who have sex with men (MSM) are associated with risks of STIs acquisition. Specifically, such studies found that differences across private spaces, commercial sex venues, and public spaces can shape access to sexual partners as well as condoms and substance use behaviors. This study sought to understand such dynamics among Chinese MSM.

Methods: This cross-sectional, online survey was disseminated through Chinese MSM community networks through WeChat from June 2022 to July 2022. Participants responded to questions on sociodemographics, sexual behaviors, and other psychosocial attributes. Latent class analysis was employed to generate classes of participants based on their preferences for sex venues. Multinomial logistic regression was utilized to examine the associations between sociodemographic characteristics and sexual behaviors with classes of sex venue preferences.



Results: The total sample size was 890. Participants were mostly single (n=792, 89.0%), with a college degree (n=653, 73.4%), and identified as gay (n=687, 77.2%). Latent class analysis revealed that a three classes model (labelled post hoc as ‘primarily home’, ‘hotels only’, and ‘all venues’). The ‘primarily home’ group comprised participants who essentially had sex only in their homes (n=611, 69%); the ‘hotels only’ group comprised participants who had sex only in hotels (n=199, 22%); and the ‘all venues’ group included participants who had sex in multiple venues (n=80, 9%) . The results of multinomial regression (including relative risk ratios) are reported in Table 1. Compared to the ‘primarily home’ group, those who were ever married, of lower income, with lower community connectedness, with higher levels of consistent condom use with casual partners, and never tested for STI were more likely to be in the ‘hotels only’ group; those who were ever married, with lower educational attainment, did not identify as gay, had more sexual partners in the last six months, and had used poppers in the last six months were more likely to be in the ‘all venues’ group.



Conclusions: Differentiated sexual health messaging and interventions can be tailored to these distinct groups of participants who prefer to have sex primarily at home, primarily in hotels, or at all venues.