ArticleSexually transmitted infections2020
Characteristics and sexual health service use of MSM engaging in chemsex: results from a large online survey in England.
Article in Sexually transmitted infections, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05929040 (Using the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1 to Conceptualize the Clinical Content of a Preliminary Randomised Controlled Study of an Online Mindfulness-based Cognitive Intervention for Chemsex), which is not on this map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
The trial behind it
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.
Using the Behaviour Change Technique Taxonomy v1 to Conceptualize the Clinical Content of a Preliminary Randomised Controlled Study of an Online Mindfulness-based Cognitive Intervention for Chemsex
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mental Health Symptoms Associated with Sexualized Drug Use (Chemsex) among Men Who Have Sex with Men: A Systematic Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Chemsex and childhood trauma: evidence from a explorative matched case-control analysis.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Chemsex-associated drug use amongst men and gender-diverse people having sex with men in the UK: Findings from an online community survey, 2024.International journal of STD & AIDS · 2026Article
- Differences between men who have sex with men that use drugs and engage in chemsex and those who do not engage in chemsex in the French ANRS-PREVENIR cohort: the need to rethink harm reduction services.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2025Article
- Chemsex, sexualized drug use and emotional vulnerability among men who have sex with men (MSM): a one-month survey in a STI/HIV center.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Relations Between Optimism-Pessimism and Loneliness in Sexually Minoritized Men: The Moderating Role of Chronicity-Based Discrimination.Journal of homosexuality · 2025Article
- "Navigating Risk and Responsibility?": A Mixed-Methods Study Addressing Stigma and Well-Being Among Men Who Have 'Sex on Chems' with Other Men in the English Midlands.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Prevalence, Disclosure, and Help Seeking in Black and Asian Male Survivors of Sexual Violence in the United Kingdom: A Rapid Review.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2024Review
- Chemsex Session Typologies and Associated Sociodemographic Factors in Sexual Minority Men: Latent Class Analysis From a Cultural Perspective Using a Cross-Sectional Survey.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2024Article
- A Cross-Sectional Study of Spanish Grindr Users: Sociodemographic Characteristics, Sexual Health Trends, and Attitudes toward HIV Testing.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- In the fight against HIV/AIDS: the arduous implementation of government-funded pre-exposure prophylaxis programme in Taiwan.Sexually transmitted infections · 2024Article
- Substance Use and Risky Sexual Behavior in the PrEP Outpatient Clinic at the University Hospital of Brasília.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2023Article
- Article
- Chemsex Drug Use among a National Sample of Sexually Active Men who have Sex with Men, - American Men's Internet Survey, 2017-2020.Substance use & misuse · 2023Article
- The World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry guidelines on the assessment and pharmacological treatment of compulsive sexual behaviour disorder.Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2022Article
- Chemsex users in Czechia: EMIS survey.Central European journal of public health · 2022Article
- Effects of Appearance- and Performance-Enhancing Drugs on Personality Traits.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Review
- First case report of tDCS efficacy in severe chemsex addiction .Dialogues in clinical neuroscience · 2020Article
- Oral sex practices among men who have sex with men and transgender women at risk for and living with HIV in Nigeria.PloS one · 2020Article
- Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Men Who Have Sex With Men That Practice Chemsex in France: Results From the National ERAS Web Survey.American journal of men's healthArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
8 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundChemsex, the use of select psychoactive drugs to enhance sexual experience, typically among men who have sex with men (MSM), is associated with sexual behaviours with higher STI risk. Understanding patterns of chemsex among MSM as well as the characteristics and sexual health service engagement of chemsex participants is important for developing interventions.
methodsBetween 5/2016 to 5/2017, 3933 MSM completed an online survey, recruited in sexual health clinics (SHCs) in England (n=421) and via four social networking/dating apps (n=3512). We described patterns of chemsex in the past year and used multivariable logistic regression to investigate differences in demographics and sexual behaviours by chemsex history. We described history of SHC attendance and STI test in the past year among app-recruited chemsex participants.
resultsChemsex in the past year was reported by 10% of respondents; 19% of SHC-recruited and 9% of app-recruited. Among chemsex participants, 74% had used ≥2 chemsex drugs. In the multivariable model, MSM engaging in chemsex had a raised odds of being HIV-positive (adjusted OR (aOR): 3.6; 95% CI 2.1 to 6.1), aged 30-44 (aOR 1.5 vs <30 years; 95% CI 1.0 to 2.1), being born outside the UK and having engaged in higher risk sexual behaviours in the past 3 months. Chemsex participants also had higher odds of condomless anal sex with partners of different or unknown HIV status, but only among HIV-negative/untested. In the past year, 66% of app-recruited chemsex participants had attended a SHC and 81% had had an STI test.
conclusionOne in 10 MSM recruited through community and clinical settings across England had engaged in chemsex in the past year. Those that did appear to be at greater STI risk but engaged more actively with sexual health services. This highlights the need and opportunity for chemsex-related services in SHCs and robust referral pathways to drug treatment services.
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