Factors associated with bacterial sexually transmitted infection screening uptake and diagnosis among men who have sex with men in France.

BACKGROUND

The prevalence of syphilis, Chlamydia trachomatis (CT), and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG) in men who have sex with men (MSM) is very high. As these bacterial sexually transmitted infections (bSTIs) are frequently asymptomatic, they are often undiagnosed and therefore untreated. We aimed to characterize the profile of MSM who reported bSTI screening and diagnosis in the previous 12 months, and to identify the factors associated with a diagnosis of a bSTI among MSM in France.

METHODS

We used data from Enquête Rapport au Sexe (ERAS), a large French national anonymous cross-sectional online survey among MSM conducted from 26 February to 11 April 2021. After comparing MSM screened and diagnosed in the previous year with those who were not, a binary logistic regression model was used to compare MSM diagnosed with at least one bSTI with those who were not.

RESULTS

Of the 13 300 survey respondents, 6 263 (47.1%) MSM reported screening for at least one bSTI in the previous 12 months. Of these, 1 060 (16.9%) were diagnosed for at least one bSTI during their most recent screening. Specifically, 446 (7.1%) MSM were diagnosed with NG, 427 (6.8%) with CT, and 402 (6.4%) for syphilis. The following self-reported factors were associated with a greater likelihood of bSTI diagnosis: younger age, a lower educational level, frequenting MSM meeting places, not currently using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) but willing to take preventive treatment against bSTIs (reference group: not using PrEP and not willing to take preventive treatment against bSTIs), low health literacy, more than one sexual male partner, practicing chemsex, and condomless anal intercourse with casual male partners (the latter three factors concerning the previous six months).

CONCLUSIONS

A large proportion of MSM were diagnosed for at least one bSTI. This result provides an insight into bSTI screening uptake and diagnosis among MSM in France, and could inform future decisions about how to plan effective bSTI screening and diagnosis programs for this population.