Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Public Health and Surveillance
Date Submitted: Aug 26, 2021
Date Accepted: Sep 6, 2022
Excessive Drinking Among Men Who Have Sex With Men Recruited From Internet-Based Resources: Cross-Sectional Questionnaire Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Studies in the U.S. and Northern Europe have found a higher prevalence of alcohol-related problems among men who have sex with men (MSM) than among general population men (GPM). However, differences in consumption levels are unclear, and analogous comparisons in Southern Europe are lacking. Moreover, most of previous studies rely on traditional recruiting methods (e.g., household surveys), through which including a large sample of MSM is hard. Taking advantage of dating apps and websites commonly used by MSM may overcome this issue.
Objective:
To compare certain measures of alcohol use (AUDIT score, hazardous drinking, harmful drinking, regular hazardous drinking and monthly binge drinking) between MSM and GPM in Spain.
Methods:
6,013 MSM were recruited through dating apps and websites for the Methysos Project, and 10,432 GPM were recruited using probability sampling via the Household Survey on Alcohol and Drugs in Spain (EDADES) during 2018-2020. Outcomes were the prevalence of hazardous/harmful drinking (AUDIT score ≥8), hazardous drinking (AUDIT-C ≥4), harmful drinking (AUDIT-P ≥4), regular hazardous drinking (>14 standard drinks/week) and monthly binge drinking. Adjusted prevalence ratios (aPR) were estimated using Poisson regression with robust variance.
Results:
The prevalence of hazardous/harmful drinking was 15.6 percent [95% CI: 14.7-16.5] among MSM versus 8.7 percent [8.2-9.3] among GPM. The results for the comparison of aPR of MSM and GPM were greater than one for harmful or hazardous drinking (1.6 [1.5-1.9]), harmful drinking (2.1 [1.8-2.4]) and monthly binge drinking (1.6 [1.4-1.8]), close to one for hazardous drinking (0.9 [0.9-1.0]) and less than one for regular hazardous drinking (0.8 [0.6-0.9]). Most prevalence indicators showed opposite trends for age and size of place of residence for both MSM and GPM.
Conclusions:
The use of dating apps and websites allowed recruiting a large sample of MSM. The prevalence of hazardous/harmful drinking was 60 percent greater for MSM compared to their GPM counterparts in Spain. This difference was due to a higher prevalence of harmful drinking, with no relevant differences in hazardous drinking. Nearly one in six MSM would benefit from early alcohol brief intervention procedures.
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