Sexually transmitted infections and factors associated with condom use in dating app users in Brazil

Objectives

To establish the characteristics of Brazilian geosocial dating app users, estimate the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) and factors associated with condom use.

Methods

This was a cross-sectional descriptive study with a sample of 2,250 men who have sex with men (MSM) from across Brazil. The social network Facebook® was used to disseminate and collect data for the survey, through a post boosted weekly, between November 2016 and January 2017. The data were submitted to univariate and bivariate analysis with the help of SPSS software.

Results

Most participants were young (25 years old), had a university degree (57.8%), were homosexual (75.7%), and had met their partners on dating apps (64.1%), especially Tinder ® (57.3%) and Grindr ® (53.3%), for sexual purposes (69.7%). The prevalence of STIs was 11.1%, and 7.1% were HIV+. Factors associated with condom use were: meeting partners on app (p=0.003), using Grindr ® (p=0.002), Scruff ® (p=0.027) or Hornet ® (p<0.001), using apps to find friends (p<0.001), sex (p<0.001) or relationships (p<0.001), frequency of app use (p<0.001) and using apps at night (p=0.003).

Conclusion

App users are young, with high education levels and are familiar with the apps due to time of use. The prevalence of STIs was high, especially HIV. The sociodemographic characteristics and particularities of the use and consumption of app were associated with consistent condom use, especially reason for use, frequency, time of day, and app used.