People living with HIV in Sweden report high levels of sexual satisfaction in a registry-based cohort study

Figures & data

Figure 1. Flow chart of study population from the InfCareHIV registry 2011–2016.

Table 1. Characteristics of the study population and the distribution of answers regarding self-reported sexual satisfaction at first visit.

Characteristics at first visit	All patients	Women	Men
Included patients, n (%)	3798	1292 (34)	2506 (66)
Age at registry visit (standard deviation)	46.3 (11.4)	42.1 (9.7)	48.5 (11.6)
Age at diagnosis (standard deviation)	35.3 (11.2)	31.4 (9.5)	37.3 (11.5)
Country of birth, n (%)
Abroad	2059 (54.2)	1027 (79.5)	1032 (41.2)
Sweden	1738 (45.8)	265 (20.5)	1473 (58.8)
Mode of HIV transmission, n (%)
Heterosexual contact	1933 (51.0)	1109 (86.2)	824 (32.9)
Homosexual/bisexual contact	1411 (37.2)	4 (0.3)	1407 (56.3)
Intravenous drug use	225 (5.9)	68 (5.3)	157 (6.3)
Unknown/other	127 (3.4)	62 (4.8)	65 (2.6)
Blood products	51 (1.3)	25 (1.9)	26 (1.0)
Mother-to-child	41 (1.1)	19 (1.5)	22 (0.9)
Not registered	10	5	5
Distribution of answers of self-reported sexual satisfaction, n (%)
Very unsatisfied	446 (11.7)	135 (10.4)	311 (12.4)
Unsatisfied	430 (11.3)	119 (9.2)	311 (12.4)
Rather unsatisfied	445 (11.7)	110 (8.5)	335 (13.4)
Rather satisfied	868 (22.9)	282 (21.8)	586 (23.4)
Satisfied	1066 (28.1)	414 (32.0)	652 (26.0)
Very satisfied	543 (14.3)	232 (18.0)	311 (12.4)

Table 2. Univariable analysis of estimated levels of self-reported sexual satisfaction.

	For all patients (95% CI)	p-value	For women (95% CI)	p-value	For men (95% CI)	p-value
Sociodemographic characteristics
Women	0.72 (0.70–0.75)	<0.0001	–		–
Men	0.64 (0.62–0.66)		–		–
Mode of HIV transmission
Heterosexual contact	0.70 (0.68–0.72)	<0.0001	0.73 (0.71–0.76)	0.23	0.65 (0.62–0.68)	0.016
Homo/bisexual contact	0.64 (0.61–0.66)		–		0.63 (0.61–0.66)
Intravenous drug use	0.58 (0.53–0.64)		0.65 (0.56–0.75)		0.55 (0.49–0.62)
Unknown/other	0.71 (0.66–0.77)		0.71 (0.64–0.79)		0.71 (0.64–0.79)
Country of birth
Sweden	0.64 (0.62–0.66)	0.0006	0.70 (0.65–0.75)	0.20	0.63 (0.61–0.66)	0.41
Abroad	0.69 (0.67–0.71)		0.73 (0.71–0.76)		0.65 (0.62–0.67)
On ART >6 months
Yes	0.67 (0.66–0.69)	0.032	0.73 (0.71–0.76)	0.0065	0.64 (0.62–0.66)	0.44
No	0.63 (0.60–0.67)		0.65 (0.60–0.71)		0.62 (0.58–0.67)
HIV-RNA (among patients on ART >6 months)
≥50 copies/mL	0.67 (0.63–0.72)	0.92	0.74 (0.67–0.82)	0.82	0.63 (0.57–0.69)	0.66
<50 copies/mL	0.67 (0.66–0.69)		0.73 (0.71–0.76)		0.64 (0.62–0.66)

CI: confidence interval.

Table 3. Univariable analysis of relative risks (RR) of sexual satisfaction.

	Compared variables	RR including all patients (95% CI)	p-value	RR for women (95% CI)	p-value	RR for men (95% CI)	p-value
Sociodemographic characteristics
Women	Women vs men	1.13 (1.09–1.18)	<0.0001	–		–
Men				–		–
Mode of HIV transmission
Heterosexual contact		–		–		–
Homosexual/bisexual contact	Heterosexual contact vs homosexual/bisexual contact	1.10 (1.05–1.15)	<0.0001	–		1.02 (0.97–1.08)	0.43
Intravenous drug use	Intravenous drug use vs heterosexual contact	0.83 (0.76–0.92)	0.0002	0.88 (0.76–1.02)	0.097	0.85 (0.75–0.96)	0.011
Unknown/other	Unknown/other vs heterosexual contact	1.02 (0.94–1.11)	0.62	0.97 (0.87–1.09)	0.63	1.09 (0.97–1.23)	0.14
Country of birth
Sweden		–		–		–
Abroad	Abroad vs Sweden	1.07 (1.03–1.12)	0.0006	1.05 (0.97–1.14)	0.20	1.02 (0.97–1.08)	0.41
HIV-related biomarkers
On ART >6 months
Yes	Yes vs no	1.06 (1.01–1.11)	0.032	1.12 (1.03–1.23)	0.0065	1.03 (0.96–1.10)	0.44
No		–		–		–
HIV RNA (among patients on ART >6 months)
≥50 copies/mL		–		–		–
<50 copies/mL	<50 copies/mL vs ≥ 50 copies/mL	1.00 (0.94–1.08)	0.92	0.99 (0.90–1.09)	0.82	1.02 (0.93–1.12)	0.66
HIV RNA (among all individuals with or without ART)	By 1 log10 increase	0.98 (0.97–1.00)	0.019	1.00 (0.98–1.02)	0.90	0.97 (0.95–0.99)	0.0076
CD4	By 50 cells/ɥL increase	1.00 (1.00–1.01)	0.15	1.00 (0.99–1.01)	0.99	1.00 (1.00–1.01)	0.076
CD4 nadir	By 50 cells/ɥL increase	1.00 (0.99–1.00)	0.096	0.99 (0.98–1.00)	0.019	1.00 (0.99–1.01)	0.83
Time-related data
Age at visit	By every ten years increase ≤70 years	0.95 (0.93–0.96)	<0.0001	0.96 (0.93–0.99)	0.0061	0.96 (0.94–0.98)	0.0007
	By every ten years increase >70 years	1.16 (0.89–1.51)	0.27	1.05 (0.55–2.02)	0.88	1.17 (0.89–1.55)	0.27
Calendar year	By one year increase	1.04 (1.03–1.05)	<0.0001	1.03 (1.02–1.05)	0.0001	1.04 (1.02–1.05)	<0.0001
Age at diagnosis	By ten years increase for ages ≤20	0.87 (0.82–0.92)	<0.0001	0.90 (0.83–0.97)	0.0048	0.85 (0.78–0.91)	<0.0001
	By ten years increase for ages >20	0.98 (0.97–1.00)	0.12	0.98 (0.94–1.02)	0.32	1.01 (0.98–1.03)	0.53
Time since diagnosis	By ten years increase	0.95 (0.92–0.97)	<0.0001	0.97 (0.93–1.01)	0.097	0.94 (0.91–0.97)	0.0003
ART duration	By five years increase	0.97 (0.96–0.99)	0.0009	0.99 (0.96–1.01)	0.33	0.97 (0.95–0.99)	0.0011

RR: ratio risk; CI: confidence interval.

Figure 2. Self-reported sexual satisfaction in study group (all), women and men by age at visit.

Figure 3. Self-reported sexual satisfaction in study group (all), women and men over time in calendar years.

Table 4. Multivariable analysis of associations between sexual satisfaction and selected variables for all patients.

Variables	RR (95% CI)	p-value
Sociographic characteristics
Gender: women vs men	1.09 (1.05–1.14)	<0.0001
Time-related data
Age at visit by ten-year increase ≤70 years	0.97 (0.95–0.99)	0.0012
Age at visit by ten-year increase >70 years	1.08 (0.83–1.41)	0.57
Calendar year by one-year increase	1.04 (1.03–1.05)	<0.0001
ART duration by five-year increase	0.98 (0.96–0.99)	0.0042

RR: risk ratio; CI: confidence interval.