Table 1.
Description of participants included in three cross-sectional biobehavioural surveys of men who have sex with men conducted in Montréal, Québec (Canada) (2005–2018, before any imputation or standardisation)
| Characteristics | 2005 | 2009 | 2018 |
| (n=1795) | (n=1258) | (n=1086) | |
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | |
| HCV seropositivity | 95 (5) | 49 (4) | 58 (5) |
| HIV seropositivity | 224 (13) | 193 (15) | 200 (18) |
| Reactive syphilis serology | 93 (5) | 116 (9) | 194 (18) |
| Age | 38 (28–47)* | 40 (30–47)* | 34 (28–49)* |
| Income ≥$C30 000 in the past year | 891 (50) | 763 (61) | 461 (42) |
| Education level higher than high school | 1217 (68) | 537 (43) | 806 (74) |
| Sexual orientation other than gay/homosexual | 336 (19) | 107 (9) | 205 (19) |
| Born outside of Canada | 244 (14) | 194 (15) | 348 (32) |
| Self-reported ethnicity or family background | |||
| Indigenous | 33 (2)† | 16 (1) | 9 (1) |
| English Canadian | 146 (8)† | 108 (9) | 103 (9) |
| French Canadian | 1219 (68)† | 865 (69) | 537 (49) |
| European | 105 (6)† | 119 (9) | 157 (14) |
| Asian | 31 (2)† | 14 (1) | 40 (4) |
| Arab or North African | 28 (2)† | 20 (2) | 44 (4) |
| Sub-Saharan African | 3 (<1)† | 3 (<1) | 9 (1) |
| Latin, South or Central American | 60 (3)† | 29 (2) | 92 (8) |
| Caribbean | 20 (1)† | 7 (1) | 9 (1) |
| Oceanian (eg, Australian, Pacific Islander) | 2 (<1)† | 0 | 1 (<1) |
| Other | 84 (5)† | 61 (5) | 74 (7) |
| First language other than French/English | 125 (7) | 101 (8) | 74 (7) |
| Transactional sex in the P6M‡ | 329 (18)† | 187 (15)† | 108 (10) |
| CAS with a man of serodiscordant/unknown HIV status in the P6M | 200 (11)† | 251 (20)† | 395 (36)† |
| >5 male sexual partners in the P6M§ | 664 (37) | 569 (45) | 533 (51) |
| Group sex in the P6M | 479 (27) | 407 (32)† | 252 (23) |
| History of injection drug use¶ | 128 (7)† | 147 (12) | 110 (10) |
*Median (IQR).
†More than 2% of observations were missing for this variable, in this data set.
‡Transactional sex was defined as having given/received money, drugs, or other goods or services in exchange for sex in the P6M.
§Male sexual partners included both oral and anal sexual partners.
¶Lifetime injection of any non-prescribed drug was considered as a previous experience of injection drug use.
CAS, condomless anal sex; HCV, hepatitis C virus; P6M, past 6 months.