High prevalence of HIV infection among young men who have sex with men in New York City

Objective: To determine the prevalence of HIV infection and risk behaviors among young men who have sex with men (MSM) aged 15-22 years in New York Ci ty. Design: An anonymous cross-sectional survey. Methods: The 1998 Young Men's Survey in New York City (YMS-NYC), was a mult istage probability survey of 541 MSM aged 15-22 years who attend public ven ues. After identification of venues and their associated high attendance ti me periods, random samples of venues and time periods were selected on a mo nthly basis. At each sampling event, potential participants were approached to determine eligibility. Eligible and willing men were interviewed, couns elled and had a blood specimen drawn. Results: Between December 1997 and September 1998, 115 sampling events were conducted. Of 612 men enrolled, 541 reported ever having had sex with a ma le partner. The HIV seroprevalence among the 541 MSM sampled was 12.1%. The HIV seroprevalence was 18.4% among African-Americans, 16.7% among persons of mixed race, 8.8% among Latino individuals and 3.1% among white men. HIV seroprevalence was 5.0% among 15-18 year olds and 16.4% among 19-22 year ol ds. A total of 65.5% of MSM were susceptible to hepatitis B virus infection (HBV). Almost half (46.1%) of the men reported unprotected anal sex in the previous 6 months and 16.3% reported ever having had an STD. Multiple regr ession analyses found that being older, of mixed race, black or ever having had an STD was associated with being HIV antibody positive. Conclusion: These data identify a large subgroup of MSM in need of effectiv e HIV and HBV primary and secondary prevention programs. (C) 2000 Lippincot t Williams & Wilkins.