Substance Use and Sexual Risk Differences among Older Bisexual and Gay Men with HIV

Abstract

Bisexual and gay men are disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. Research typically combines these groups into the category of men who have sex with men, and little is known about between-group differences. HIV-positive populations are aging and have high rates of substance use compared to non-infected peers, while substance use among older adults has increased and is associated with unprotected intercourse. Among a sample of 239 HIV-positive bisexual and gay men aged 50 and older, bisexual men were more likely to report cigarette, cocaine, crack, and heroin use compared with gay men. However, bisexual men were less likely to use crystal meth, club drugs, poppers (nitrate inhalers), and erectile dysfunction (ED) medications compared to gay men. While bisexual men reported lower rates of unprotected sex, logistic regression analysis found that current use of poppers and ED drugs, which were higher among gay men, explained this difference. Implications for education and prevention programs are discussed.

Keywords:

• bisexual
• gay
• HIV/AIDS
• MSM
• older adults
• substance use

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge the contributions of Andrew Shippy and the ROAH project team: Philana Rowell, for her effective recruiting and assistance with testing participants; Allison Applebaum and David Ward for their assistance with data collection and entry; and Nicola Di Pietro for his assistance with data collection, entry and analysis. They are also grateful to the participants who gave their time and energy to this project. Portions of this article were presented at the symposium, Mental Health of Bisexual People Across the Lifespan: Three Countries (G. Garner, PhD, & L. Ross, PhD, Chairs), at the Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association, Honolulu, HI, August 1, 2013.

Additional information

Funding

Research on Older Adults with HIV (ROAH) was supported by ACRIA.