ArticleDrug and alcohol dependence2020
Evaluating the impact of COVID-19: A cohort comparison study of drug use and risky sexual behavior among sexual minority men in the U.S.A.
Article in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
54 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 94 citations in OpenAlex.
- Understanding the Impacts of Novel Coronavirus Outbreaks on People Who Use Drugs: A Systematic Review to Inform Practice and Drug Policy Responses to COVID-19.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Pooled it
- Adapted Motivational Interviewing Reduces Substance Use and Sexual Risk Taking Among Partnered Sexual Minority Men Aged 18-35 Years: Results of the PARTNER Study.Journal of acquired immune deficiency syndromes (1999) · 2026Trial
- Optimizing Individual HIV Testing and Counseling for Emerging Adult Sexual Minority Men (Aged 18 to 24) in Relationships: A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Adjunct Communication Components.AIDS and behavior · 2024Trial
- Testing the Effectiveness of a Motivational Interviewing Intervention to Reduce HIV Risk and Drug Use in Young Sexual Minority Men in a Community-Based Organization Setting.AIDS and behavior · 2024Trial
- Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Motivational Interviewing with Sexual Minority Male Couples to Reduce Drug Use and Sexual Risk: The Couples Health Project.AIDS and behavior · 2022Trial
- A full-factorial randomized controlled trial of adjunct couples HIV testing and counseling components addressing drug use and communication skills among sexual minority male couples.BMC public health · 2021Trial
- Spatializing Substance Use and Sexual Behaviors of Queer Men and Non-binary Individuals During COVID-19.AIDS and behavior · 2026Article
- Pandemic Associated Changes in Personal Substance Use and Perceptions of Changes to Peer Substance Use among College Students: A Retrospective Assessment.Journal of drug education · 2025Article
- Evaluating the impact of COVID-19 on the HIV epidemic among MSM in Australia.AIDS (London, England) · 2025Article
- Ehealth interactive intervention in promoting safer sex among men who have sex with men.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- Sexual behaviours and risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection among MSM during the first COVID-19 lockdown.BMC public health · 2024Article
- Article
- Sexual Behavior and Sexual Decision-Making Among Gay, Bisexual, and Other Men Who Have Sex with Men During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Observations from a Rapid Ethnographic Assessment in Marion County, Indiana, October-November 2021.Archives of sexual behavior · 2024Article
- Multicenter observational survey on psychosocial and behavioral impacts of COVID-19 in people living with HIV in Northern Vietnam.Scientific reports · 2023Observational
- Changes in self-reported cannabis use during the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review.BMC public health · 2023Article
- Substance Use, Sexual Agreements, and Sexual Risk Behaviors Among Adolescent Sexual Minority Males (Aged 13-17) in the United States.The Journal of adolescent health : official publication of the Society for Adolescent Medicine · 2023Article
- Unpacking racism during COVID-19: narratives from racialized Canadian gay, bisexual, and queer men.International journal for equity in health · 2023Article
- Article
- A Neglected Narrative in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Epidemiological and Clinical Impacts of the COVID-19 Outbreak on Syphilis.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2023Review
- Use of COVID-19 testing in the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic among cohorts of people at the intersection of drug use and HIV.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundSexual minority men who use drugs have high sexual HIV transmission risk. Sexual interactions may also increase COVID-19 risk.This study compared marijuana use, other illegal drugs use (i.e. cocaine/crack, methamphetamine, MDMA/ecstasy, GHB, and ketamine) and sexual behavior with casual partners among sexual minority cismen active on social networking and dating applications before and during the COVID-19 epidemic.
methodsThis cohort-control study compared 455 adult respondents (surveyed May 6th to 17th, 2020) and a matched sample selected from 65,707 respondents surveyed pre-COVID. Participants were recruited on social networking and dating applications and completed surveys online.
resultsThe proportion reporting marijuana use declined significantly in the COVID cohort (34.5 % versus 45.7 % pre-COVID,p < .001) as did their illegal drug use (11.0 % versus 22.9 % pre-COVID, p < .001). While the number of casual partners per month was stable, the proportion reporting condomless anal sex with casual partners declined significantly during COVID (26.4 % versus 71.6 % pre-COVID, p < .001). The effect of illegal drug use (excluding marijuana) on number of casual partners per month (aRR = 1.45 pre-COVID versus 2.84, p < .01) and odds of condomless anal sex (aOR = 2.00 pre-COVID versus 5.22, p = .04) were significantly greater in the COVID cohort.
conclusionsWhile the proportion of participants reporting drug use and condomless anal sex with casual partners declined in the COVID cohort, the association between drug use and sexual behavior was magnified. Sexual minority men who use drugs are significantly more likely to engage in sexual behaviors that place them at risk for HIV and COVID-19 transmission.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.