LAUSR

The objective of this study was to examine the association between financial hardship, condomless anal intercourse and HIV risk among a sample of men who have sex with men (MSM). Users of a popular geosocial networking application in Paris were shown an advertisement with text encouraging them to complete a anonymous web-based survey (n = 580). In adjusted multivariate models, high financial hardship (compared to low financial hardship) was associated with engagement in condomless anal intercourse (aRR 1.28; 95% CI 1.08–1.52), engagement in condomless receptive anal intercourse (aRR 1.34; 95% CI 1.07–1.67), engagement in condomless insertive anal intercourse (aRR 1.30; 95% CI 1.01–1.67), engagement in transactional sex (aRR 2.36; 95% CI 1.47–3.79) and infection with non-HIV STIs (aRR 1.50; 95% CI 1.07–2.10). This study suggests that interventions to reduce financial hardships (e.g., income-based strategies to ensure meeting of basic necessities) could decrease sexual risk behaviors in MSM.