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Table 3 Sociodemographic profile of men who have sex exclusively with women (MSEW), all men who have sex with men (MSM), and MSM who identified as gay in Natsal-3

From: The health and well-being of men who have sex with men (MSM) in Britain: Evidence from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3)

  MSEW All MSM   MSM who identified as gayb  
Denominators a : 5069, 6257 190, 191   107, 99  
  % [95 % CI] % [95 % CI] p-value* % [95 % CI] p-value**
Age group      
 16–34 35.0 [33.6–36.5] 43.6 [35.9–51.6] 0.106 51.3 [40.2–62.3] <0.001
 35–54 41.0 [39.3–42.8] 38.3 [30.3–47.0]   41.2 [30.2–53.1]  
 55–74 23.9 [22.5–25.4] 18.1 [12.1–26.2]   7.5 [3.7–14.8]  
 Median (IQR) 41 (30–54) 40 (26–51)   34 (26–46)  
  Age-standardised estimates:
Relationship status      
 Married/civil partnership 54.4 [53.1–55.7] 25.6 [18.2–34.8] <0.001 14.9 [8.0–26.0] <0.001
 Living with partner 16.0 [14.9–17.1] 20.6 [14.3–28.8]   21.8 [12.8–34.7]  
 In a ‘steady’ relationship but not living together 11.8 [11.0–12.7] 14.5 [9.9–20.7]   15.8 [9.5–25.0]  
 Not in a ‘steady’ relationship 17.8 [16.9–18.8] 39.3 [31.5–47.6]   47.6 [35.5–59.9]  
Ethnicity - white 88.4 [87.2–89.5] 96.8 [91.6–98.8] 0.007 98.9 [92.9–99.8] 0.013
Religion/religious beliefs –fairly/very important 33.8 [32.3–35.4] 23.4 [16.9–31.4] 0.007 27.3 [17.6–39.9] 0.056
Academic qualificationsc      
 No academic qualifications 17.9 [16.7–19.2] 10.2 [6.0–16.9] 0.017 9.3 [4.2–19.5] 0.010
 Academic qualifications typically gained at age 16 34.3 [32.8–35.8] 33.8 [26.2–42.2]   31.7 [21.2–44.5]  
 Studying for/attained further academic qualifications 47.8 [46.1–49.5] 56.0 [47–64.6]   58.9 [45.7–71.0]  
National Statistics Socio-Economic Classificationd      
 Managerial & professional occupations 38.1 [36.4–39.7] 43.1 [34.6–52] 0.086 43.8 [31.9–56.5] 0.094
 Intermediate occupations 17.1 [15.8–18.4] 20.0 [13.7–28.3]   26.5 [16.4–39.8]  
 Semi-routine/routine occupations 32.6 [31.1–34.2] 27.5 [20.1–36.4]   18.9 [11.9–28.8]  
 Never worked and long-term unemployed 5.0 [4.4–5.7] 1.2 [0.4–3.9]   3.7 [0.9–13.7]  
 Full-time students 7.2 [6.5–8] 8.2 [54–12.3]   7.1 [3.8–12.8]  
Lives in an urban areae 76.6 [74.8–78.3] 81.5 [72.9–87.9] 0.118 89.1 [79.9–94.4] 0.005
Quintile of Index of Multiple Deprivationf      
 1 (least deprived) 21.2 [19.7–22.8] 18.9 [12.7–27.2] 0.530 13.1 [7.5–22.0] 0.116
 2 21.6 [20.1–23.2] 16.6 [11.0–24.3]   17.2 [9.2–29.8]  
 3 19.4 [17.9–20.9] 21.0 [15.0–28.7]   16.9 [10.1–26.8]  
 4 19.6 [18.1–21.2] 21.2 [15.1–29.0]   26.2 [17.3–37.6]  
 5 (most deprived) 18.2 [16.8–19.6] 22.2 [16.2–29.6]   26.6 [18.6–36.6]  
  1. *p-value for comparing all MSM to MSEW
  2. **p-value for comparing MSM who identified as gay in Natsal-3 to MSEW. Note that MSM who identify as gay are a subset of all MSM
  3. aUnweighted, weighted denominators defined as participants who reported at least one sexual partner in the 5 years prior to interview
  4. bMSM who identified as gay in Natsal-3 are a subset of all MSM
  5. cParticipants aged ≥17 years
  6. dNational Statistics Socio-Economic Classification is a measure of individual socio-economic status [17]
  7. eDefined as areas with a population of at least 10,000 people
  8. fIndex of Multiple Deprivation is an area-level measure of deprivation [18]
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BMC Public Health

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