Table 1. Sociodemographic and behavioral characteristics of the participants (n=501).
| Overall n=501 |
MSM N=250 |
TGW N=251 |
pa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||
| Sociodemographics | ||||
| Age (years) | 29.1 (6.2) | 29.5 (6.8) | 28.8 (5.7) | 0.19 |
| Personal monthly income (INR) | 15332 (8912) |
15566 (11691) |
15109 (4979) |
0.57 |
| Occupation | ||||
| Unemployed | 31 (6.2) | 20 (8.0) | 11 (4.4) | |
| Student | 18 (3.6) | 16 (6.4) | 2 (0.8) | |
| Daily-wage laborer | 22 (4.4) | 19 (7.6) | 3 (1.2) | |
| Government staff | 3 (0.6) | 2 (0.8) | 1 (0.4) | |
| Private company staff | 140 (27.9) | 121 (48.4) |
19 (7.6) | |
| Voluntary organization staff | 20 (3.9) | 13 (5.2) | 7 (2.8) | |
| Sex work | 227 (45.3) | 30 (12.0) | 197 (78.5) | |
| Self-employed | 39 (7.7) | 29 (11.6) | 10 (3.9) | |
| Kadai Kettal (Asking alms from shops) | 1 (0.2) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.4) | |
| Current relationship status | <0.001 | |||
| Currently single, no main partner | 259 (51.7) | 115 (46.0) | 144 (57.4) | |
| Partnered – with a boyfriend | 178 (35.5) | 89 (35.6) | 89 (35.5) | |
| Partnered – with a girlfriend | 7 (1.4) | 6 (2.4) | 1 (0.4) | |
| Married to a woman | 33 (6.6) | 33 (13.2) | 0 (0.0) | |
| Married to a man | 9 (1.8) | 4 (1.6) | 5 (2.0) | |
| Partnered - with a transgender woman | 8 (1.6) | 1 (0.4) | 7 (2.8) | |
| No answer/Not willing to answer | 7 (1.4) | 2 (0.8) | 5 (2.0) | |
| Self-reported sexual or sexual role-based identity among MSM | ||||
| Kothi | 72 (29.0) | 72 (29.0) | - | |
| Panthi | 7 (2.8) | 7 (2.8) | - | |
| Double-Decker (Versatile) | 21 (8.5) | 21 (8.5) | - | |
| Gay | 82 (33.1) | 82 (33.1) | - | |
| Queer | 6 (2.4) | 6 (2.4) | - | |
| Straight / Heterosexual | 1 (0.4) | 1 (0.4) | - | |
| Bisexual | 59 (23.8) | 59 (23.8) | - | |
| Self-reported gender-related identity among TGW | ||||
| Thirunangai | 242 (96.4) | - | 242 (96.4) | |
| Transgender woman (English term) | 4 (1.6) | - | 4 (1.6) | |
| Woman | 5 (2.0) | - | 5 (2.0) | |
| Education | <0.001 | |||
| ≤ Higher secondary | 228 (45.5) | 94 (37.6%) |
134 (53.4) | |
| ≥ Diploma/college | 273 (54.5) | 156 (62.4%) |
117 (46.6) | |
| Recruitment mode | 0.95 | |||
| Offline | 300 (59.9) | 150 (60.0) |
150 (59.8) | |
| Online | 201 (40.1) | 100 (40.0) |
101 (40.2) | |
| HIV-positive status (Yes) | 11 (2.2) | 8 (3.2) | 3 (1.2) | 0.14 |
| Outcomes | ||||
| Awareness of mpox | ||||
| Heard of mpox (Yes) | 294 (58.7) | 145 (58.0) | 149 (59.4) | 0.82 |
| Awareness of burden of mpox among MSM/TGW (Yes) | 186 (37.1) | 89 (35.6) | 97 (38.6) | 0.54 |
| Vaccine acceptability | ||||
| Willingness to be vaccinated against mpox (Yes) | 184 (36.7) | 134 (53. 6) |
50 (19.9) | <0.001 |
| Psychosocial conditions | ||||
| Depression (%) | 208 (41.5) |
44 (17.6) | 164 (65.3) |
<0.001 |
| Anxiety (%) | 276 (55.0) |
79 (31.6) | 197 (78.4) | <0.001 |
| HIV/STI risk | ||||
| Engaged in sex work in the past month (yes) | 297 (59.3) | 72 (28.8) | 225 (89.6) | <0.001 |
| Inconsistent condom use in the past 2 months (yes) with: | ||||
| Any type of male partner | 338/501 (67.4) |
123/250 (49.2) |
215/251 (85.6) |
<0.001 |
| Male non-regular partners | 284/437 (64.9) |
86/199 (43.2) |
198/238 (83.1) |
<0.001 |
| Male regular partners | 215/319 (67.4) |
90/155 (58.0) |
125/164 (76.2) |
0.001 |
a
p-values were derived from independent samples t-tests for continuous variables and Pearson’s Chi-square or Fisher’s Exact tests for categorical variables. For the ‘occupation’ category, a p-value could not be computed due to small cell sizes.