Table 2. Characteristics of egocentric sexual networks in the past 12 months of the survey by HIV status of study index participants, in Taizhou prefecture of Eastern China, 2013.
| Sexual behavioral characteristic | HIV positive participants (n1 = 70) | HIV negative participants (n2 = 550) | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type of egocentric sexual networks* | a(I) (%) | a(II) (%) | a(III) (%) | a(IV) (%) | a(V) (%) | a(VI) (%) | Total (%) | b (I) (%) | b(II) (%) | b(III) (%) | b(IV) (%) | b(V) (%) | b(VI) (%) | Total (%) |
| Number of sexual networks | 14 (20.0) | 23 (32.9) | 12 (17.1) | 19 (27.1) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (2.9) | 70 (100.0) | 124 (22.5) | 181 (32.9) | 68 (12.4) | 135 (24.5) | 7 (1.3) | 35 (6.4) | 550 (100.0) |
| Network degree a Median (IQR) | 1 (1, 1) | 3 (2, 5) | 2 (2, 2) | 3 (3, 6) | 0 (0.0) | 6 (5, 7) | 3 (2, 4) | 1 (1, 1) | 3 (2, 4) | 2 (2, 2) | 4 (3, 5) | 3 (3, 6) | 5 (4, 6) | 3 (2, 4) |
| Number of sex partners involved in the sexual network b | 14 | 85 | 33 | 87 | 0 | 12 | 221 | 124 | 612 | 132 | 631 | 30 | 221 | 1750 |
| Number of male sex partners involved in the sexual network c | 14 | 85 | 12 | 68 | _ | 7 | 186 | 124 | 612 | 68 | 496 | 7 | 124 | 1431 |
| Type of male sex partners | ||||||||||||||
| Regular | 11 (78.6) | 19 (22.4) | 10 (83.3) | 18 (26.5) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 58 (31.2) | 95 (76.6) | 185 (30.2) | 49 (72.1) | 136 (27.4) | 4 (57.1) | 24 (19.4) | 493 (34.5) |
| Commercial | 1 (7.1) | 3 (3.5) | 1 (8.3) | 7 (10.3) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 12 (6.5) | 4 (3.2) | 36 (5.9) | 2 (2.9) | 31 (6.3) | _ | 25 (20.2) | 98 (6.8) |
| Casual | 2 (14.3) | 61 (71.8) | 0 (0.0) | 43 (63.2) | _ | 7 (100.0) | 113 (60.8) | 21 (16.9) | 387 (63.2) | 14 (20.6) | 302 (60.9) | 3 (42.9) | 69 (55.6) | 796 (55.6) |
| Others | 0 (0.0) | 2 (2.4) | 1 (8.3) | 0 (0.0) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 3 (1.6) | 4 (3.2) | 4 (0.6) | 3 (4.4) | 27 (5.4) | _ | 6 (4.8) | 44 (3.1) |
| Condom use with male sex partners | ||||||||||||||
| Always | 8 (57.1) | 30 (35.3) | 8 (66.7) | 37 (54.4) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 83 (44.6) | 51 (41.1) | 327 (53.4) | 13 (19.1) | 220 (44.4) | 4 (57.1) | 85 (68.5) | 700 (48.9) |
| Sometimes | 3 (21.4) | 26 (30.6) | 3 (25.0) | 10 (14.7) | _ | 5 (71.4) | 47 (25.3) | 43 (34.9) | 178 (29.1) | 23 (33.8) | 158 (31.9) | 1 (14.3) | 33 (26.6) | 436 (30.5) |
| Never | 3 (21.4) | 29 (34.1) | 1 (8.3) | 21 (30.9) | _ | 2 (28.6) | 56 (30.1) | 30 (24.2) | 107 (17.5) | 32 (47.1) | 118 (23.8) | 2 (28.6) | 6 (4.8) | 295 (20.6) |
| HIV status of male sexual partners reported by participants | ||||||||||||||
| HIV+ | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.2) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.5) | 7 (5.6) | 6 (0.98) | 1 (1.5) | 3 (0.6) | _ | 1 (0.8) | 18 (1.3) |
| HIV- | 6 (42.9) | 13 (15.3) | 5 (41.7) | 7 (10.3) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 31 (16.7) | 49 (39.5) | 175 (28.6) | 27 (39.7) | 90 (18.1) | 1 (14.3) | 29 (23.4) | 371 (25.9) |
| Unknown | 8 (57.1) | 71 (83.5) | 7 (58.3) | 61 (89.7) | _ | 7 (100.0) | 154 (82.8) | 68 (54.8) | 431 (70.4) | 40 (58.8) | 403 (81.3) | 6 (85.7) | 94 (75.8) | 1042 (72.8) |
| Number of female sex partners involved in the sexual network d | _ | _ | 11 | 19 | _ | 5 | 35 | _ | _ | 64 | 135 | 23 | 97 | 319 |
| Type of female sex partners | ||||||||||||||
| Wife | _ | _ | 10 (90.9) | 18 (94.7) | _ | 2 (40.0) | 30 (85.7) | _ | _ | 58 (90.6) | 125 (92.6) | 7 (30.4) | 20 (20.6) | 210 (65.8) |
| Commercial | _ | _ | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | _ | 1 (20.0) | 1 (2.9) | _ | _ | 4 (6.3) | 4 (3.0) | 1 (4.3) | 21 (21.6) | 30 (9.4) |
| Casual | _ | _ | 1 (9.1) | 1 (5.3) | _ | 2 (40.0) | 4 (11.4) | _ | _ | 1 (1.6) | 6 (4.4) | 15 (65.2) | 56 (57.7) | 78 (24.5) |
| Others | _ | _ | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | _ | _ | 1 (1.6) | _ | _ | _ | 1 (0.3) |
| Condom use with female sex partners | ||||||||||||||
| Always | _ | _ | 0 (0.0) | 5 (26.3) | _ | 1 (20.0) | 6 (17.1) | _ | _ | 7 (10.9) | 29 (21.5) | 10 (43.5) | 56 (57.7) | 102 (32.0) |
| Sometimes | _ | _ | 1 (9.1) | 2 (10.5) | _ | 2 (40.0) | 5 (14.3) | _ | _ | 12 (18.8) | 29 (21.5) | 6 (26.1) | 23 (23.7) | 70 (21.9) |
| Never | _ | _ | 10 (90.9) | 12 (63.2) | _ | 2 (40.0) | 24 (68.6) | _ | _ | 45 (70.3) | 77 (57.0) | 7 (30.4) | 18 (18.6) | 147 (46.1) |
| HIV status of female sexual partners reported by participants | ||||||||||||||
| HIV+ | _ | _ | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | _ | _ | 2 (3.1) | _ | _ | _ | 2 (0.6) |
| HIV- | _ | _ | 6 (54.5) | 9 (47.4) | _ | 0 (0.0) | 15 (42.9) | _ | _ | 26 (40.6) | 56 (41.5) | 5 (21.7) | 32 (33.0) | 119 (37.3) |
| Unknown | _ | _ | 5 (45.5) | 10 (52.6) | _ | 5 (100.0) | 20 (57.1) | _ | _ | 36 (56.3) | 79 (58.5) | 18 (78.3) | 65 (67.0) | 198 (62.1) |
Note:
*: a(I) to a(VI), b(I) to (VI) denote the different type of egocentric sexual networks of the MSM participants, details are provided in the Fig 1;
a, b: Network degree or the number of sexual partners involved in the sexual network has no significantly difference by the HIV status of the index participants (Z = -0.015, P = 0.998)
c Number of male sex partners involved in the sexual network has no significantly difference by the HIV status of the index participants (Z = -0.142, P = 0.887)
d Number of female sex partners involved in the sexual network has no significantly difference by the HIV status of the index participants (Z = -0.045, P = 0.964).