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
. 2019 Feb;23(2):347-358.
doi: 10.1007/s10461-018-2259-2.

HIV Testing Among a Representative Community Sample of Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men in Vancouver, Canada

Heather L Armstrong  1   2 , Lu Wang  3 , Julia Zhu  3 , Nathan J Lachowsky  3   4 , Kiffer G Card  3   5 , Jason Wong  6 , Jody Jollimore  7 , Joshua Edward  8 , Eric A Roth  9 , Robert S Hogg  3   5 , David M Moore  3   10
Affiliations

HIV Testing Among a Representative Community Sample of Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men in Vancouver, Canada

Heather L Armstrong et al. AIDS Behav. 2019 Feb.

Abstract

Earlier HIV diagnosis allows for improved treatment outcomes and secondary prevention. It is recommended that all individuals know their HIV status and that those at higher risk test more frequently. Using a representative community sample of gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM), we aimed to: (1) determine the proportion of GBMSM who have tested in the past 2 years, (2) determine reasons for testing and never having tested, and (3) explore correlates of testing. Of 535 eligible participants, 80.0% reported having had an HIV test in the past 2 years, most commonly as part of a regular testing schedule. The most common reason for not testing was low perceived HIV risk. Bisexual and older GBMSM, as well as those who lived outside of Vancouver, were less likely to have tested in the past 2 years. Rapid point-of-care testing may help improve testing rates and was shown to effectively engage some hard-to-reach GBMSM (e.g., those who had not tested for other STIs) in this sample.

Keywords: Gay and bisexual men; HIV testing; Motivation; Point-of-care testing.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). 90-90-90: An ambitious treatment target to help end the AIDS epidemic. 2014. Available online at http://www.unaids.org/sites/default/files/media_asset/90-90-90_en.pdf
    1. Office of the Provincial Health Officer. HIV Testing guidelines for the province of British Columbia. 2014. Available online at http://www.bccdc.ca/resource-gallery/Documents/Communicable-Disease-Manu...
    1. Moore DM, Cui Z, Lachowsky N, et al. HIV community viral load and factors associated with elevated viremia among a community-based sample of men who have sex with men in Vancouver, Canada. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2016; 72(1):87–95. - PMC - PubMed
    1. BC Centre for Disease Control. HIV in British Columbia: Annual surveillance report 2015. 2017. Retrieved from http://www.bccdc.ca/search?k=hiv%20annual%20report
    1. Deblonde J, De Koker P, Hamers FF, Luchters S, Temmerman M. Barriers to HIV testing in Europe: a systematic review. Eur J Public Health. 2010; 20(4):422–32. - PubMed

MeSH terms