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What’s Sleep Got to Do with It?: Sleep Health and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Men Who have Sex with Men

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Abstract

Emerging evidence links poor sleep health with a range of adverse health behaviors, including condomless anal intercourse (CAI) among men who have sex with men (MSM). We tested associations between a range of sleep health indicators and sex outcomes in an online sample of 559 MSM in Paris France, recruited from a geosocial-networking phone application. Participants reported on sleep quality, sleep duration, problems falling asleep, and problems staying awake during wake-time activities, and four sex outcomes: numbers of receptive, insertive, and total CAI partners in the past three months, and use of substances before or during sex. In bivariate analyses, all four sleep variables were associated with the three CAI outcomes, whereas poor sleep quality and problems falling asleep were positively associated with using substances before or during sex. Most of these associations remained significant when adjusting for various socio-demographic and behavioral covariates. These findings highlight the importance of addressing sleep health to prevent HIV risk among MSM.

Resumen

La evidencia emergente relaciona la mala salud del sueño con una variedad de comportamientos de salud adversos, incluyendo el sexo anal sin condón entre hombres que tienen sexo con hombres (HSH). Examinamos asociaciones entre una variedad de indicadores de salud del sueño y resultados sexuales en un grupo de 559 HSH en París, Francia, reclutados en una aplicación telefónica de redes geosociales. Los participantes reportaron la calidad del sueño, la duración del sueño, los problemas para conciliar el sueño y los problemas para mantenerse despiertos durante las actividades del despertar, y cuatro resultados sexuales: número de parejas receptivas (pasivas), activas, y totales de sexo anal sin condón, y uso de sustancias antes o durante el sexo. En los análisis bivariados, las cuatro variables del sueño se asociaron positivamente con los tres resultados de sexo anal sin condón, mientras que la mala calidad del sueño y los problemas de conciliar el sueño se asociaron positivamente con el uso de sustancias antes o durante el sexo. La mayoría de estas asociaciones siguieron siendo significativas cuando ajustamos para diversas covariables sociodemográficas y conductuales. Estos resultados destacan la importancia de abordar la salud del sueño para prevenir el riesgo de VIH entre HSH.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the translators and participants of this study who contributed to the project. We thank William Goedel, Noah Kreski, and Jace Morganstein for assisting in the development, translation, and management of the survey used in the current study.

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Funding

This study was supported by Dr. Dustin Duncan’s New York University School of Medicine Start-Up Research Fund.

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Correspondence to Brett M. Millar.

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All authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Millar, B.M., Parsons, J.T., Redline, S. et al. What’s Sleep Got to Do with It?: Sleep Health and Sexual Risk-Taking Among Men Who have Sex with Men. AIDS Behav 23, 572–579 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-018-2288-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-018-2288-x

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