HIV SEROSTATUS DISCLOSURE AMONG GAY AND BISEXUAL MEN IN 4 AMERICAN CITIES - GENERAL PATTERNS AND RELATION TO SEXUAL PRACTICES

The present study examined patterns of serostatus disclosure among pre viously untested HIV-seropositive and HIV-seronegative gay and bisexua l men recruited from four American cities (n = 701). Six months after learning their HIV serostatus, 97% of study participants had disclosed their test results to at least one other individual. Consistent with earlier studies, test results were most frequently shared with friends and the respondent's primary partner. HIV serostatus was disclosed le ss frequently to family members, co-workers, and non-primary sex partn ers. Compared with HIV-seronegative men, HIV-seropositive men were mor e likely to have disclosed their status to a health care provider and less likely to have shared this information with family members. Of se ropositive men, 11% did not disclose their serostatus to their primary partner and 66% did not disclose to a non-primary sex partner. Of HIV -seropositive men with one or more non-primary partners, 16% of those who did not disclose their serostatus reported inconsistent condom use during anal intercourse with these partners. No significant differenc es in self-reported sexual practices were observed for HIV-seropositiv e disclosers versus non-disclosers. Compared with HIV-seronegative men who did not disclose, seronegative men who shared information about t heir serostatus were more likely to have had receptive anal intercours e with their primary partner (p < 0.05) and to have engaged in mutual masturbation (p < 0.005), receptive oral sex (p < 0.005) and insertive anal intercourse (p < 0.05) with non-primary partners. No significant differences were observed between disclosers and non-disclosers with regard to condom use. Implications of the findings for future research and HIV prevention programmes are discussed.