Chemsex, risk behaviours and sexually transmitted infections among men who have sex with men in Dublin, Ireland

Psychosocial and sexual characteristics associated with sexualised drug use and chemsex among men who have sex with men (MSM) in the UK

“…Additionally, MSM engaging in chemsex were more likely to report their SDU having a negative impact on their life. The proportion of MSM engaging in chemsex reporting a negative impact is similar to research in Ireland; [9] however this is the first study to investigate how this differs between chemsex, other forms of SDU and sex under the influence of alcohol. Those engaging in SDU reported greater sexual satisfaction, compared to those not engaging in SDU, but no difference was observed between engaging in chemsex and in other SDU.…”

“…Similar to previous research, MSM engaging in SDU were more likely to have engaged in condomless anal intercourse. [4,7,9,14] MSM engaging in SDU were also more likely to have attended a GUM clinic in the past 12 months and received an STI diagnosis. [7,10,11] However, when comparing MSM engaging in chemsex with MSM engaging in other types of SDU, this difference did not hold at the multivariable level, possibly due to the overlap with number of condomless anal intercourse partners.…”

“…[8] Behaviourally, engaging in chemsex has been associated with more sexual partners, group sex, condomless anal intercourse, fisting, sharing sex toys, injecting drug use and higher alcohol consumption. [4,7,9] Whilst MSM reporting chemsex are more likely to be living with HIV, MSM who do not have HIV and report engaging in chemsex are more likely to have accessed post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP). [7,10] In Amsterdam, a higher proportion of MSM engaging in chemsex were taking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) compared to MSM not engaging in chemsex.…”

“…reported their partners had lost consciousness, [19] and MSM have reported in qualitative interviews feeling uncomfortable in these situations, due to issues regarding a person's ability to consent to sex. [17] Research into chemsex and other forms of SDU among MSM in the UK to date has mostly been situated in urban areas and/or sexual health clinics.…”

Epidemiology of gonorrhoea: a global perspective

“…[43][44][45] Increasing use of geospatial applications to find sex partners, use of HIV seroadaptive behaviours, the introduction of HIV PrEP and proliferation of circuit parties and group sex events, particularly those involving chemsex, might contribute to changes in behaviour and development of large and dense sexual networks that may facilitate gonorrhoea transmission. [46][47][48][49][50][51][52][53][54][55][56][57] Emerging gonococcal antimicrobial resistanceparticularly resistance to the only remaining currently recommended antimicrobialsamong MSM is of grave concern. While the pattern is not universal, gonococcal isolates from MSM often demonstrate greater prevalence of antimicrobial resistance than isolates from heterosexuals.…”