ArticleSexually transmitted infections2007
Men who have sex with men in Great Britain: comparison of a self-selected internet sample with a national probability sample.
Article in Sexually transmitted infections, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 40 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- The use of geosocial networking smartphone applications and the risk of sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2018Pooled it
- Prevalence of unprotected anal intercourse in men who have sex with men recruited online versus offline: a meta-analysis.BMC public health · 2014Pooled it
- Gay saunas and the risks of HIV and syphilis transmissions in China--results of a meta-analysis.The journal of sexual medicine · 2013Pooled it
- Use of Videos Improves Informed Consent Comprehension in Web-Based Surveys Among Internet-Using Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of medical Internet research · 2017Trial
- Patterns of drug combinations used by men who have sex with men in Brazil.Revista brasileira de psiquiatria (Sao Paulo, Brazil : 1999) · 2025Article
- Latin American Internet Survey for Men who have Sex with Men (LAMIS-2018): Design, methods and implementation.PloS one · 2022Article
- HIV incidence among men who have sex with men using geosocial networking smartphone application in Beijing, China: an open cohort study.Infectious diseases of poverty · 2021Article
- Measures of the Degree of Departure from Ignorable Sample Selection.Journal of survey statistics and methodology · 2020Article
- PrEP Interest Among Men Who Have Sex with Men in the Netherlands: Covariates and Differences Across Samples.Archives of sexual behavior · 2020Article
- Article
- Indices of non-ignorable selection bias for proportions estimated from non-probability samples.Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Series C, Applied statistics · 2019Article
- Estimation of the Population Size of Men Who Have Sex With Men in Vietnam: Social App Multiplier Method.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2019Article
- Correlates of recent HIV infection among men who have sex with men recruited through the internet in Huzhou City, Eastern China.The Journal of international medical research · 2018Article
- Comparing substance use and mental health outcomes among sexual minority and heterosexual women in probability and non-probability samples.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2018Article
- Using data from a behavioural survey of men who have sex with men (MSM) to estimate the number likely to present for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) in Ireland, 2017.Euro surveillance : bulletin Europeen sur les maladies transmissibles = European communicable disease bulletin · 2017Article
- Men who have sex with men in Great Britain: comparing methods and estimates from probability and convenience sample surveys.Sexually transmitted infections · 2016Article
- Assessing Self-Control and Geosocial Networking App Behavior Among an Online Sample of Men Who Have Sex with Men.Journal of urban health : bulletin of the New York Academy of Medicine · 2016Article
- Comparing databases: determinants of sexually transmitted infections, HIV diagnoses, and lack of HIV testing among men who have sex with men.BMC public health · 2015Article
- Do Web-based and clinic samples of gay men living with HIV differ on self-reported physical and psychological symptoms? A comparative analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2015Article
- An exploratory review of HIV prevention mass media campaigns targeting men who have sex with men.BMC public health · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesTo compare the characteristics of a self-selected, convenience sample of men who have sex with men (MSM) recruited through the internet with MSM drawn from a national probability survey in Great Britain.
methodsThe internet sample (n = 2065) was recruited through two popular websites for homosexual men in Great Britain in May and June 2003. This sample was compared with MSM (n = 117) from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal), a probability sample survey of adults resident in Great Britain conducted between May 1999 and February 2001.
resultsNo significant differences were observed between the samples on a range of sociodemographic and behavioural variables (p>0.05). However, men from the internet sample were younger (p<0.001) and more likely to be students (p = 0.001), but less likely to live in London (p = 0.001) or report good health (p = 0.014). Although both samples were equally likely to report testing for HIV, men from the internet sample were more likely to report a sexually transmitted infection in the past year (16.9% v 4.8%, adjusted odds ratio 4.14, 95% CI 1.76 to 9.74; p = 0.001), anal intercourse (76.9% v 63.3%; p = 0.001) and unprotected anal intercourse in the past 3 months (45% v 36.6%; p = 0.064).
conclusionsThe internet provides a means of recruiting a self-selected, convenience sample of MSM whose social and demographic characteristics are broadly similar to those of MSM drawn from a national probability survey. However, estimates of high-risk sexual behaviour based on internet convenience samples are likely to overestimate levels of sexual risk behaviour in the wider MSM population.
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