Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Aug;92(4):733-43.
doi: 10.1007/s11524-015-9970-3.

Population Size Estimates for Men who Have Sex with Men and Persons who Inject Drugs

Alexandra M Oster  1 , Maya Sternberg, Amy Lansky, Dita Broz, Cyprian Wejnert, Gabriela Paz-Bailey
Affiliations

Population Size Estimates for Men who Have Sex with Men and Persons who Inject Drugs

Alexandra M Oster et al. J Urban Health. 2015 Aug.

Abstract

Understanding geographic variation in the numbers of men who have sex with men (MSM) and persons who inject drugs (PWID) is critical to targeting and scaling up HIV prevention programs, but population size estimates are not available at generalizable sub-national levels. We analyzed 1999-2010 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey data on persons aged 18-59 years. We estimated weighted prevalence of recent (past 12 month) male-male sex and injection drug use by urbanicity (the degree to which a geographic area is urban) and US census region and calculated population sizes. Large metro areas (population ≥1,000,000) had higher prevalence of male-male sex (central areas, 4.4% of men; fringe areas, 2.5%) compared with medium/small metro areas (1.4%) and nonmetro areas (1.1%). Injection drug use did not vary by urbanicity and neither varied by census region. Three-quarters of MSM, but only half of PWID, resided in large metro areas. Two-thirds of MSM and two-thirds of PWID resided in the South and West. Efforts to reach MSM would benefit from being focused in large metro areas, while efforts to reach PWID should be delivered more broadly. These data allow for more effective allocation of funds for prevention programs.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Urbanicity level and census region, United States.
FIG. 2
FIG. 2
Population size of men who have sex with men (MSM) and persons who inject drugs (PWID), by (a) urbanicity and (b) U.S. census region.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. HIV Surveillance Report, 2011. Atlanta, GA: CDC; 2013.
    1. Purcell DW, Johnson CH, Lansky A, et al. Estimating the population size of men who have sex with men in the United States to obtain HIV and syphilis rates. Open AIDS J. 2012;6:98–107. doi: 10.2174/1874613601206010098. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Laumann EO, Gagnon JH, Michael RT, Michaels S. The Social Organization of Sexuality: sexual practices in the United States. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press; 1994.
    1. Lieb S, Fallon SJ, Friedman SR, et al. Statewide estimation of racial/ethnic populations of men who have sex with men in the U.S. Public Health Rep. 2011;126(1):60–72. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Lieb S, Prejean J, Thompson DR, et al. HIV prevalence rates among men who have sex with men in the southern United States: population-based estimates by race/ethnicity. AIDS Behav. 2011;15(3):596–606. doi: 10.1007/s10461-010-9820-y. - DOI - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources