TABLE 1.
Baseline characteristics of participants.
| All participants (n = 420) | Follow-up at Month 9 (n = 303) | Loss to follow-up (n = 117) | ||
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| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | P values | |
| Sociodemographic | ||||
| Age group (years) | ||||
| 18–24 | 133 (31.7) | 88 (29.0) | 45 (38.5) | 0.11 |
| 25–30 | 189 (45.0) | 143 (47.2) | 46 (39.3) | |
| 31–40 | 75 (17.9) | 58 (19.1) | 17 (14.5) | |
| >40 | 23 (5.5) | 14 (4.6) | 9 (7.7) | |
| Current relationship status | ||||
| Currently single | 337 (80.2) | 239 (78.9) | 98 (83.8) | 0.50 |
| Married or cohabited with a man | 68 (16.2) | 53 (17.5) | 15 (12.8) | |
| Married or cohabited with a woman | 15 (3.6) | 11 (3.6) | 4 (3.4) | |
| Highest education level attained | ||||
| Junior high or below | 56 (13.3) | 38 (12.5) | 18 (15.4) | 0.18 |
| Senior high or equivalent | 94 (22.4) | 61 (20.1) | 33 (28.2) | |
| College or above | 254 (60.5) | 193 (63.7) | 61 (52.1) | |
| Others | 16 (3.8) | 11 (3.6) | 5 (4.3) | |
| Current employment status | ||||
| Full-time | 297 (70.7) | 221 (72.9) | 76 (65.0) | 0.11 |
| Part-time/unemployed/retired/students/others | 123 (29.3) | 82 (27.1) | 41 (35.0) | |
| Monthly personal income, Chinese Yuan (US dollar) | ||||
| Below 3000 (461.4) | 33 (7.9) | 22 (7.3) | 11 (9.4) | 0.21 |
| 3000–4999 (461.4–768.9) | 93 (22.1) | 63 (20.8) | 30 (25.6) | |
| 5000–6999 (769.1–1076.5) | 88 (21.0) | 58 (19.1) | 30 (25.6) | |
| 7000–9999 (1076.7–1537.9) | 73 (17.4) | 59 (19.5) | 14 (12.0) | |
| 10000 or above (1538.1) | 76 (18.1) | 61 (20.1) | 15 (12.8) | |
| No fixed income | 38 (9.0) | 27 (8.9) | 11 (9.4) | |
| Refused to disclose | 19 (4.5) | 13 (4.3) | 6 (5.1) | |
| Sexual orientation | ||||
| Homosexual | 302 (71.9) | 238 (78.5) | 64 (54.7) | <0.001 |
| Bisexual | 84 (20.0) | 52 (17.2) | 32 (27.4) | |
| Heterosexual | 14 (3.3) | 3 (1.0) | 11 (9.4) | |
| Uncertain | 20 (4.8) | 10 (3.3) | 10 (8.5) | |
| HIV sero-status | ||||
| Negative | 323 (76.9) | 246 (81.2) | 77 (65.8) | 0.005 |
| Positive | 8 (1.9) | 6 (2.0) | 2 (1.7) | |
| Refused to disclose | 27 (6.4) | 17 (5.6) | 10 (8.5) | |
| Had not tested for HIV | 62 (14.8) | 34 (11.2) | 28 (23.9) | |
| Predisposing factors | ||||
| Sexual behaviors in the past 6 months, n (%) Yes | ||||
| Condomless anal intercourse with regular male sex partners | 103 (24.5) | 77 (25.4) | 26 (22.2) | 0.50 |
| Condomless anal intercourse with non-regular male sex partners | 54 (12.9) | 41 (13.5) | 13 (11.1) | 0.51 |
| Condomless anal intercourse with male sex workers | 11 (2.6) | 6 (2.0) | 5 (4.3) | 0.19 |
| Sexualized drug use | 50 (11.9) | 38 (12.5) | 12 (10.3) | 0.52 |
| COVID-19 preventive measures during sexual behaviors, n (%) often/always | ||||
| Only having sex with my partner who has had sex with me before | 141 (33.6) | 113 (37.3) | 28 (23.9) | 0.009 |
| Avoiding group sex | 172 (41.0) | 137 (45.2) | 35 (29.9) | 0.004 |
| Only having sex at home | 175 (41.7) | 138 (45.5) | 37 (31.6) | 0.009 |
| Only having sex in other places rather than at home | 49 (11.7) | 36 (11.9) | 13 (11.1) | 0.83 |
| Asking your partner whether they have COVID-19 symptoms | 112 (26.7) | 91 (30.0) | 21 (17.9) | 0.01 |
| Avoiding kissing during sex | 106 (25.2) | 87 (28.7) | 19 (16.2) | 0.008 |
| Washing hands before and after sex | 254 (60.5) | 198 (65.3) | 56 (47.9) | 0.001 |
| Sanitizing before and after sex | 174 (41.4) | 139 (45.9) | 35 (29.9) | 0.003 |
| Perceptions related to COVID-19, n (%) agree/strongly agree | ||||
| The risk of COVID-19 transmission through sexual behavior is high | 241 (57.4) | 176 (58.1) | 65 (55.6) | 0.64 |
| The risk of COVID-19 transmission through other intimate behaviors (e.g., kissing, touching) is high | 333 (79.3) | 245 (80.9) | 88 (75.2) | 0.20 |
| Asymptomatic patients have a high risk of transmitting COVID-19 | 232 (55.2) | 170 (56.1) | 62 (53.0) | 0.57 |
| Your regular male sex partner would transmit COVID-19 to you | 190 (45.2) | 142 (46.9) | 48 (41.0) | 0.28 |
| Your non-regular male sex partner would transmit COVID-19 to you | 236 (56.2) | 178 (58.7) | 58 (49.6) | 0.09 |
| You concern about COVID-19 infection when taking up HIV testing | 163 (38.8) | 119 (39.3) | 44 (37.6) | 0.75 |
| Psychological variables, mean (SD) | ||||
| Level of panic about COVID-19 | 3.1 (1.1) | 3.1 (1.0) | 3.0 (1.2) | 0.33 |
| CESD-10 | 21.9 (6.8) | 22.0 (6.6) | 21.6 (7.3) | 0.59 |
| Enabling factors | ||||
| Service utilization in the past 6 months, n (%) Yes | ||||
| Any type of HIV testing | 250 (59.5) | 190 (62.7) | 60 (51.3) | 0.03 |
| Testing for STI | 103 (24.5) | 80 (26.4) | 23 (19.7) | 0.15 |
| Other HIV/STI prevention services1 | 152 (36.2) | 115 (38.0) | 37 (31.6) | 0.23 |
| Experiences related to COVID-19, n (%) Yes | ||||
| Friends/family members infected with COVID-19 | 5 (1.2) | 2 (0.7) | 3 (2.6) | 0.14 |
| History of COVID-19 infection | 7 (1.7) | 4 (1.3) | 3 (2.6) | 0.40 |
| Centralized/home quarantine | 66 (15.7) | 57 (18.8) | 9 (7.7) | 0.005 |
AIDS, acquired immune deficiency syndrome; HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; SD, standard deviation; STI, sexually transmitted infection. 1Other HIV/STI prevention services: condom distribution, peer education, HIV/AIDS promotion leaflets and lectures, and HIV/AIDS prevention knowledge via the Internet or social media. P values were obtained using the chi-square test (X2) for categorical variables or independent-sample t-tests for continuous variables. The bold values are statistically significant with P < 0.05.