There was a high prevalence of polydrug use and chemsex drug use among HIV negative MSM attending UK sexual health clinics. Drug use was strongly associated with sexual behaviours linked to risk of acquisition of STIs and HIV.

Use of 'party drugs', a particular set of recreational drugs used in the context of 'ChemSex', is frequent among MSM living with HIV. A recently published observational study showed that more than half of HIV-infected MSM interviewed reported use of illicit substances in the previous 3 months, with frequent concomitant use of three or more drugs. These substances are a combination of 'club drugs' (methylenedioxymethamphetamine, gamma-hydroxybutyrate, ketamine, benzodiazepine) and drugs that are more specifically used in a sexualized context (methamphetamine, mephedrone, poppers and erectile dysfunction agents). Although formal data on pharmacokinetic or pharmacodynamic interactions between recreational drugs and antiretroviral agents are lacking, information regarding potentially toxic interactions can be theorized or sometimes conclusions may be drawn from case studies and cohort observational studies. However, the risk of coadministering party drugs and antiretrovirals should not be overestimated. The major risk for a drug-drug interaction is when using ritonavir-boosting or cobicistat-boosting agents, and maybe some nonnucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors. Knowledge of the metabolic pathways of 'party drugs' may help in advising patients on which illicit substances have a high potential for drug-drug interactions, as this is not the case for all.

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There is evidence that fitness has been declining and fatness increasing in Australian schoolchildren over the last generation. This study reproduced the methods of a national survey of Australian schoolchildren conducted in 1985. Anthropometric and performance tests were administered to 1,463 10- and ll-year-old South Australians. Compared to the 1985 sample, the 1997 children were heavier (by 1.4−2.9 kg), showed greater weight for height (by 0.13−0.30 kg · m−2.85), and were slower over 1.6 km (by 38−48.5 s). Furthermore, the distribution of values was markedly more skewed in the 1997 data. While there was little difference between the fittest and leanest quartiles in 1997 and their 1985 counterparts, the least fit and fattest quartiles were markedly worse in 1997. This suggests that the decline in fitness of Australian schoolchildren is not homogeneous and that interventions should target groups where the decline is most marked.