JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

The American Men’s Internet Survey (AMIS) is an annual Web-based behavioral survey of men who have sex with men (MSM) living in the United States. This Rapid Surveillance Report describes the fourth cycle of data collection (September 2016 through February 2017; AMIS-2016). The key indicators are the same as previously reported for AMIS (December 2013 through May 2014, AMIS-2013; November 2014 through April 2015, AMIS-2014; September 2015 through April 2016; AMIS-2015). The AMIS survey methodology has not substantively changed since AMIS-2015. MSM were recruited from a variety of websites using banner advertisements and email blasts. Additionally, participants from AMIS-2015 who agreed to be recontacted for future research were emailed a link to the AMIS-2016 survey. Men were eligible to participate if they were 15 years old and over, resided in the United States, provided a valid US ZIP code and reported ever having sex with a man or identified as gay or bisexual. We examined demographic and recruitment characteristics using multivariable regression modeling (P<.05) stratified by participants’ self-reported human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status. The AMIS-2016 round of data collection resulted in 10,166 completed surveys from MSM representing every US state, Puerto Rico, Guam and the US Virgin Islands. Participants were mainly non-Hispanic white, over the age of 40, living in the US South, living in urban areas and recruited from general social networking websites. Self-reported HIV prevalence was 10.80% (1098/10,166). Compared to HIV-negative/unknown status participants, HIV-positive participants were more likely to have had anal sex without a condom with any male partner in the past 12 months (75.77% vs 65.88%, P<.001) and more likely to have had anal sex without a condom with a serodiscordant or unknown status partner (33.24% vs 16.06%, P<.001). The reported use of marijuana and other illicit substances in the past 12 months was higher among HIV-positive participants than HIV-negative/unknown status participants (28.05% vs 24.99% and 28.14% vs 18.46%, respectively; both P<.001). Most (79.93%, 7248/9068) HIV-negative/unknown status participants reported ever having a previous HIV test, and 56.45% (5119/9068) reported HIV testing in the past 12 months. HIV-positive participants were more likely to report sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and diagnosis compared to HIV-negative/unknown status participants (70.86% vs 40.13% and 24.04% vs 8.97%, respectively; both P<.001).