Sexualized drug use and STD and HIV incidence among men who have sex with men in Amsterdam,the Netherlands

Abstract

Background

We assessed the association between sexualized drug use (SDU), and incident sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections among men who have sex with men (MSM).

Methods

We used data from the MS2 cohort study, conducted at the STI Outpatient Clinic of the Public Health Service of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, in 2014–2019. Eligible participants were adult HIV-negative MSM with ≥2 STDs in the preceding year and MSM living with HIV and ≥1 STD. Participation encompassed 3-monthly visits including STD screening and questionnaires on drug use. Primary outcomes were incident HIV, anal chlamydia/gonorrhoea, and syphilis. We studied the association between SDU of individual drugs and incident HIV and STDs, using Poisson regression. Analyses were adjusted for age and HIV-status.

Results

131 HIV-negative MSM and 173 MSM living with HIV were included for analysis. SDU with GHB/GBL (aIRR = 7.2, 95% CI = 1.4–35.5) in the 3 months before testing was associated with incident HIV. SDU with GHB/GBL (aIRR = 1.2, 95% CI = 1.0–1.4), ketamine (aIRR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.0–1.6) or methamphetamine (aIRR = 1.3, 95% CI = 1.0–1.6) was associated with incident anal chlamydia/gonorrhoea. We found no association between SDU with specific drug types and syphilis incidence.

Conclusions

SDU with GHB/GBL, ketamine and methamphetamine among MSM was associated with incident HIV and anal chlamydia/gonorrhoea. HIV-negative MSM engaging in SDU should be advised to use HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis, and all MSM engaging in SDU should be advised to have STD screening regularly. We suggest counselling on STDs among MSM engaging in SDU.