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Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey conducted in Japan

BACKGROUND: Japanese men who have sex with men (MSM), especially those living in large metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and Osaka, are facing a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Although the Internet is used as a new venue for meeting sex partners, it can also serve as a useful research tool for investigat...

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Autores principales: Hidaka, Yasuharu, Ichikawa, Seiichi, Koyano, Junko, Urao, Michiko, Yasuo, Toshihiko, Kimura, Hirokazu, Ono-Kihara, Masako, Kihara, Masahiro
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2006
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1599727/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17002800
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-6-239
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author Hidaka, Yasuharu
Ichikawa, Seiichi
Koyano, Junko
Urao, Michiko
Yasuo, Toshihiko
Kimura, Hirokazu
Ono-Kihara, Masako
Kihara, Masahiro
author_facet Hidaka, Yasuharu
Ichikawa, Seiichi
Koyano, Junko
Urao, Michiko
Yasuo, Toshihiko
Kimura, Hirokazu
Ono-Kihara, Masako
Kihara, Masahiro
author_sort Hidaka, Yasuharu
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Japanese men who have sex with men (MSM), especially those living in large metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and Osaka, are facing a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Although the Internet is used as a new venue for meeting sex partners, it can also serve as a useful research tool for investigating the risk behaviours of Japanese MSM. This Internet survey explored the extent of substance use and its association with sexual risk behaviours among Japanese MSM. METHODS: Between 28 February 2003 and 16 May 2003 MSM were recruited through 57 Japanese gay-oriented Web sites, gay magazines, and Internet mailing lists. Participants completed a structured questionnaire anonymously through the Internet. RESULTS: In total, 2,062 Japanese MSM completed the questionnaire. The average age of participants was 29.0 years and 70.5% identified as gay, 20.8% as bisexual, and 8.7% as other. Overall, 34.5% reported never using a substance, 45% reported ever using one type of substance (lifetime reported single substance users), and 19.6% had used more than 1 type of substance (lifetime reported multiple substance users) in their lifetimes. The substances most commonly used were amyl nitrite (63.2%), 5-methoxy-N, N-diisopropyltryptamine (5MEO-DIPT) (9.3%), and marijuana (5.7%). In the multivariate analysis, unprotected anal intercourse, having had 6 or more sexual partners, visiting a sex club/gay venue in the previous 6 months, a lower education level, and being 30 to 39 years of age were associated with both lifetime single and lifetime multiple substance use. Lifetime reported multiple substance use was also correlated with having a casual sex partner, having symptoms of depression, being diagnosed as HIV-positive, and greater HIV/AIDS-related knowledge. CONCLUSION: This is the first Internet-based research focused on the sexual and substance use behaviours of MSM in Asia. Our findings suggest a compelling need for prevention interventions to reduce HIV risk-related substance use behaviours among Japanese MSM. The results also suggest that the Internet is potentially a useful tool for collecting behavioural data and promoting prevention interventions among this population.
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spelling pubmed-15997272006-10-12 Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey conducted in Japan Hidaka, Yasuharu Ichikawa, Seiichi Koyano, Junko Urao, Michiko Yasuo, Toshihiko Kimura, Hirokazu Ono-Kihara, Masako Kihara, Masahiro BMC Public Health Research Article BACKGROUND: Japanese men who have sex with men (MSM), especially those living in large metropolitan areas such as Tokyo and Osaka, are facing a growing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Although the Internet is used as a new venue for meeting sex partners, it can also serve as a useful research tool for investigating the risk behaviours of Japanese MSM. This Internet survey explored the extent of substance use and its association with sexual risk behaviours among Japanese MSM. METHODS: Between 28 February 2003 and 16 May 2003 MSM were recruited through 57 Japanese gay-oriented Web sites, gay magazines, and Internet mailing lists. Participants completed a structured questionnaire anonymously through the Internet. RESULTS: In total, 2,062 Japanese MSM completed the questionnaire. The average age of participants was 29.0 years and 70.5% identified as gay, 20.8% as bisexual, and 8.7% as other. Overall, 34.5% reported never using a substance, 45% reported ever using one type of substance (lifetime reported single substance users), and 19.6% had used more than 1 type of substance (lifetime reported multiple substance users) in their lifetimes. The substances most commonly used were amyl nitrite (63.2%), 5-methoxy-N, N-diisopropyltryptamine (5MEO-DIPT) (9.3%), and marijuana (5.7%). In the multivariate analysis, unprotected anal intercourse, having had 6 or more sexual partners, visiting a sex club/gay venue in the previous 6 months, a lower education level, and being 30 to 39 years of age were associated with both lifetime single and lifetime multiple substance use. Lifetime reported multiple substance use was also correlated with having a casual sex partner, having symptoms of depression, being diagnosed as HIV-positive, and greater HIV/AIDS-related knowledge. CONCLUSION: This is the first Internet-based research focused on the sexual and substance use behaviours of MSM in Asia. Our findings suggest a compelling need for prevention interventions to reduce HIV risk-related substance use behaviours among Japanese MSM. The results also suggest that the Internet is potentially a useful tool for collecting behavioural data and promoting prevention interventions among this population. BioMed Central 2006-09-26 /pmc/articles/PMC1599727/ /pubmed/17002800 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-6-239 Text en Copyright © 2006 Hidaka et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Hidaka, Yasuharu
Ichikawa, Seiichi
Koyano, Junko
Urao, Michiko
Yasuo, Toshihiko
Kimura, Hirokazu
Ono-Kihara, Masako
Kihara, Masahiro
Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey conducted in Japan
title Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey conducted in Japan
title_full Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey conducted in Japan
title_fullStr Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey conducted in Japan
title_full_unstemmed Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey conducted in Japan
title_short Substance use and sexual behaviours of Japanese men who have sex with men: A nationwide internet survey conducted in Japan
title_sort substance use and sexual behaviours of japanese men who have sex with men: a nationwide internet survey conducted in japan
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1599727/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17002800
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-6-239
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