A network analysis of sexually transmitted diseases and online hookup sites among men who have sex with men.
Open accessAbstract
BACKGROUND: Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) are increasing among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM). Little is known about the use of websites and mobile phone applications to meet sexual partners ("hookup sites") and association with STD diagnoses. METHODS: We performed a demographic and behavioral assessment of 415 MSM presenting to the Rhode Island STD clinic. Bivariate and multivariable analyses assessed associations between using hookup sites and testing positive for syphilis, gonorrhea, or chlamydia. Venue-based affiliation networks were created to evaluate hookup sites and their association with STD diagnoses. RESULTS: Among 415 MSM, 78% reported meeting a partner online in the last 12 months, and 25% tested positive for at least one STD. Men who met partners online were more likely to be white (67% vs. 54%, P = 0.03) and have more than 10 lifetime partners (87% vs. 58%, P < 0.05). The most commonly used hookup sites included Grindr (78%), Scruff (35%), and Tinder (22%). In the multivariable analysis, only Scruff use was associated with testing positive for an STD (odds ratio, 2.28; 95% confidence interval, 1.09-4.94). However, among men who met partners online, 75% of men diagnosed as having an STD had met a sexual partner on Grindr, including 100% of those who were diagnosed as having gonorrhea. CONCLUSIONS: Use of hookup sites was nearly ubiquitous among MSM undergoing STD screening. Specific hookup sites were significantly associated with STD diagnoses among MSM. Greater efforts are needed to promote STD screening and prevention among MSM who meet partners online.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Internet use might facilitate sexual encounters and STI transmission among MSM, and many men report using hookup sites to meet partners.
“Internet use might facilitate sexual encounters and STI transmission among MSM, and many men report using hookup sites to meet partners (242–245).”
From Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021 (2021) · cites this paper as [244]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Sexually transmitted diseases treatment guidelines (2015)
Workowski, K., & BOLAN, G. A. (2015) · The Scientific Issues of Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University Series pedagogy · doi:10.18370/2309-4117.2015.24.51-56 · Cited by 2,684 · see citing works
A “Candidate-Interactome” Aggregate Analysis of Genome-Wide Association Data in Multiple Sclerosis
Mechelli, R., Umeton, R., Policano, C., Annibali, V., Coarelli, G., Ricigliano, V. A. G., Vittori, D., Fornasiero, A., Buscarinu, M. C., Romano, S., et al. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0063300 · Cited by 513 · see citing works
Landovitz, R. J., Tseng, C., Weissman, M. A., Haymer, M., Mendenhall, B. M., Rogers, K., Veniegas, R. C., Gorbach, P. M., Reback, C. J., & SHOPTAW, S. J. (2012) · Journal of Urban Health · doi:10.1007/s11524-012-9766-7 · Cited by 297 · see citing works
Beymer, M. R., Weiss, R. E., Bolan, R. K., Rudy, E. T., Bourque, L. B., Rodriguez, J. P., & Morisky, D. E. (2014) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sextrans-2013-051494 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
‘Party and Play’: Online hook-up devices and the emergence of PNP practices among gay men
Race, K. (2015) · Sexualities · doi:10.1177/1363460714550913 · Cited by 262 · see citing works
Doherty, I. A., PADIAN, N. S., Marlow, C. A., & Aral, S. O. (2005) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1086/425277 · Cited by 257 · see citing works
Acceptability of Smartphone Application-Based HIV Prevention Among Young Men Who Have Sex With Men
Holloway, I. W., Rice, E. R. W., Gibbs, J. J., Winetrobe, H., Dunlap, S. L., & Rhoades, H. (2013) · AIDS and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10461-013-0671-1 · Cited by 217 · see citing works
Social Networks, Sexual Networks and HIV Risk in Men Who Have Sex with Men
Amirkhanian, Y. A. (2014) · Current HIV/AIDS Reports · doi:10.1007/s11904-013-0194-4 · Cited by 194 · see citing works
Social Networking Smartphone Applications and Sexual Health Outcomes among Men Who Have Sex with Men
Lehmiller, J. J., & Ioerger, M. (2014) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0086603 · Cited by 191 · see citing works
Rendina, H. J., Jimenez, R. H., Grov, C., Ventuneac, A., & Parsons, J. T. (2013) · AIDS and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10461-013-0573-2 · Cited by 146 · see citing works
Sexual network analysis of a gonorrhoea outbreak
De, P. (2004) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.2003.007187 · Cited by 144 · see citing works
Grosskopf, N. A., LeVasseur, M. T., & Glaser, D. B. (2014) · American Journal of Men s Health · doi:10.1177/1557988314527311 · Cited by 140 · see citing works
Grov, C., Hirshfield, S., Remien, R. H., Humberstone, M., & Chiasson, M. A. (2011) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-011-9854-x · Cited by 119 · see citing works
Sun, C. J., Stowers, J., Miller, C., Bachmann, L. H., & Rhodes, S. D. (2015) · AIDS and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10461-014-0942-5 · Cited by 102 · see citing works
Young, S. D., Szekeres, G., & Coates, T. J. (2013) · PLoS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0062271 · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Tang, W., Best, J., Zhang, Y., Liu, F.-Y., Tso, L. S., Huang, S., Yang, B., Wei, C., & Tucker, J. D. (2016) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sextrans-2015-052469 · Cited by 62 · see citing works
Oster, A. M., Wejnert, C., Mena, L. A., et al. (2013) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/olq.0b013e3182840373 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Using sexual affiliation networks to describe the sexual structure of a population
Frost, S. D. W. (2007) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.2006.023580 · Cited by 53 · see citing works
Venue-based affiliation networks and HIV risk-taking behavior among male sex workers
Fujimoto, K., Williams, M. L., & Ross, M. (2013) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/olq.0b013e31829186e5 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Wohlfeiler, D., Hecht, J., Volk, J. E., Raymond, H. F., Kennedy, T., & McFarland, W. (2012) · AIDS and Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10461-012-0375-y · Cited by 45 · see citing works
Chan, P. A., Towey, C., Poceta, J., Rose, J., Bertrand, T., Kantor, R., Harvey, J., Santamaria, E. K., Alexander-Scott, N., & Nunn, A. (2016) · Public Health Reports · doi:10.1177/003335491613100210 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Self-citationLampkin, D., Crawley, A., Lopez, T. P., Mejia, C. M., Yuen, W., & Levy, V. (2016) · JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes · doi:10.1097/qai.0000000000000930 · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Using Smartphone Apps in STD Interviews to Find Sexual Partners
Pennise, M., Inscho, R., Herpin, K., Owens, J. S., Bedard, B. A., Weimer, A. C., Kennedy, B. S., & Younge, M. (2015) · Public Health Reports · doi:10.1177/003335491513000311 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Holloway, I. W., Rice, E. R. W., & Kipke, M. D. (2014) · Prevention Science · doi:10.1007/s11121-014-0462-6 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Leung, K. K., Poon, C. M., & Lee, S. S. (2014) · Archives of Sexual Behavior · doi:10.1007/s10508-014-0390-3 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
Identifying Syphilis Risk Networks Through Venue Attendance in San Francisco
Stephens, S. C., Fann, C., Strona, F. V., Wolf, W., Cohen, S. E., Philip, S., & Bernstein, K. T. (2014) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/olq.0000000000000116 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
Sex Networking of Young Men Who Have Sex With Men in Densely Connected Saunas in Hong Kong
Poon, C. M., & Lee, S. S. (2013) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/olq.0000000000000052 · Cited by 6 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021
Workowski, K. A., Bachmann, L. H., Chan, P. A., Johnston, C. M., Muzny, C. A., Park, I., Reno, H., Zenilman, J. M., & Bolan, G. A. (2021) · MMWR. Recommendations and Reports · doi:10.15585/mmwr.rr7004a1 · Cited by 2,759 · see citing works
Self-citation
- Authors
- Chan, P. A., Crowley, C., Rose, J. S., Kershaw, T., Tributino, A., Montgomery, M. C., Almonte, A., Raifman, J., Patel, R., & Nunn, A.
- Affiliations
- Brown University (US)
- Wesleyan University (US)
- Yale University (US)
- Boston University (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Corresponding author
- Chan, Philip A.
- Crowley, Christina
- Tributino, Alec
- Montgomery, Madeline C.
- Almonte, Alexi
- Patel, Rupa
- ORCID
- Venue
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases
- Published
- 2018-07
- Volume
- 45
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 462-468
- ISSN
- 0148-5717 (ISSN-L)
- 1537-4521
- PMC
- PMC5995630
- OpenAlex
- W2782175593
- Cited by
- 30
- References
- 27
- Citations by year
- 2025: 6 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 2.54
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Sexually Transmitted Diseases (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH114657)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (K23AI096923, P30AI042853)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Infectious Diseases › HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions
- Social Sciences › General Social Sciences › HIV, TB, and STIs Epidemiology
- Keywords
- men who have sex with men, dating apps, Grindr, Tinder, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, STI screening, mobile application
- MeSH terms
- Health Risk Behaviors, Adolescent, Adult, Chlamydia Infections, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Rhode Island, Sexual Behavior, Sexual Partners, Sexually Transmitted Diseases, HIV Infections, Homosexuality, Male, Internet, Young Adult, Mobile Applications
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
