JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Male-to-male sexual transmission continues to account for the greatest proportion of new human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) diagnoses in the United States (US). However, calculating the prevalence and incidence of HIV and other STIs attributed to male-to-male sexual transmission requires regularly updated estimates of the number and proportion of men who have sex with men (MSM) in the U.S., which are not collected by census surveys.

Objective:

The purpose of this analysis was to estimate the number and percent of men who have sex with men in the United States from population-based surveys.

Methods:

We used data from 5 population-based surveys to calculate weighted estimates of the proportion of MSM in the US and pooled these estimates using meta-analytic procedures. We estimated the proportion of MSM utilizing sexual behavior-based questions for 3 recall periods and utilizing self-reported identity and attraction. The total number of MSM and Other men in the United States were calculated from estimates of the percentage of MSM who reported sex with another man in the past 12 months.

Results:

The percentage of MSM varied by recall period: 3.3% indicated sex with another male in the past 12 months, 4.7% in the past 5 years, and 6.2% ever. There were comparable percentages of men who identified as Gay or Bisexual (3.4%) or who indicated that they are attracted to other men (4.9%) based on pooled estimates. Our estimate of the total number or MSM in the United States is 4,477,012 based upon recent sexual history (sex with another man in the past 12 months).

Conclusions:

Population estimates of the number and percentage of MSM in the United States and the number of gay/bisexual men or men attracted to other men are important for calculating population-specific disease rates.