Whitlock, GG;
Protopapas, K;
Bernardino, J;
Imaz, A;
Curran, A;
Stingone, C;
Shivasankar, S;
... Conway, K; + view all
(2021)
Chems4EU: chemsex use and its impacts across four European countries in HIV-positive men who have sex with men attending HIV services.
HIV Medicine
10.1111/hiv.13160.
(In press).
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Abstract
Introduction: Chemsex in a European context is the use of any of the following drugs to facilitate sex: crystal methamphetamine, mephedrone and gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB)/gamma-butyrolactone (GBL) and, to a lesser extent, cocaine and ketamine. This study describes the prevalence of self-reported recreational drug use and chemsex in HIV-positive men who have sex with men (MSM) accessing HIV services in four countries. It also examines the problematic impacts and harms of chemsex and access to chemsex-related services. Methods: This is a cross-sectional multi-centre questionnaire study of HIV-positive MSM accessing nine HIV services in the UK, Spain, Greece and Italy. Results: In all, 1589 HIV-positive MSM attending HIV services in four countries completed the questionnaire. The median age of participants was 38 years (interquartile range: 32–46 years) and 1525 (96.0%) were taking antiretroviral therapy (ART). In the previous 12 months, 709 (44.6%) had used recreational drugs, 382 (24.0%) reported chemsex and 104 (6.5%) reported injection of chemsex-associated drugs (‘slamsex’). Of the 382 engaging in chemsex, 155 (40.6%) reported unwanted side effects as a result of chemsex and 81 (21.2%) as a result of withdrawal from chemsex. The reported negative impacts from chemsex were on work (25.1%, 96), friends/family (24.3%, 93) and relationships (28.3%, 108). Fifty-seven (14.9%) accessed chemsex-related services in the past year, 38 of whom (67%) felt the service met their needs. Discussion: A quarter of participants self-reported chemsex in the past 12 months. There were high rates of harms from chemsex across all countries, including negative impacts on work, friends/family and relationships. Although a minority of those engaging in chemsex accessed support, most found this useful.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Chems4EU: chemsex use and its impacts across four European countries in HIV-positive men who have sex with men attending HIV services |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1111/hiv.13160 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1111/hiv.13160 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2021 The Authors. HIV Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British HIV Association This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute for Global Health |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10134376 |
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