HPV infection and high - risk behaviours among men who have sex with men in the two biggest cities of Vietnam

Abstract

The objective of a cross sectional study is to describe the situation of human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and risk behaviours among 800 men who have sex with men (MSM) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) from December 2017 to May 2018 using respondent - driven sampling method (RDS). The results showed that the prevalence of any type of HPV infection was 29.8% (33% in HCMC, 26.5% in Hanoi) and the prevalence of any high - risk type of HPV infection was 24.0% (29.0% in HCMC, 19.0% in Hanoi). The risk behaviours to HPV among MSM in both cities included: Alcohol use (69.9%), smoking (30.7%), drug use (8.5%), having frst sexual intercourse under 18 years old (31.8%), having group sex (10.5%), having sex with both men and women (21.7%). The factors which had statistically signifcant differences with HPV status in MSM group included: City, age group, and marital status. These results showed that there is a need for medical interventions for MSM to improve individual health as well as to minimize the transmission of HPV in this population.