Lack of sexual behavior disclosure may distort STI testing outcomes

BMC Public Health

Table 2 Multivariate analyses of MSM propensity to select the rectal test compared to the urethral test, in line with sexual behavior

Variable	Marginal Effects (95% CI)	P	Marginal Effects (95% CI)	P	Marginal Effects (95% CI)
Sexual behavior	Receptive		Insertive		Versatile
Dependent variable: rectal test
Insertive	–	–	− 0.51 (− 0.59, − 0.44)	< .001	–
Receptive	0.45 (0.34, 0.57)	< .001	–	–	–
Versatile	–	–	–	–	0.006 (− 0.18, 0.19)
Age	0.006 (− 0.001, 0.013)	.12	0.004 (− 0.009, 0.018)	.52	0.003 (− 0.012, 0.019)
Income	0.012 (− 0.036, 0.060)	.64	0.050 (− 0.027, 0.128)	.2	0.05 (− 0.05, 0.14)
Number of male partners last three months	−0.022 (− 0.042, − 0.001)	.04	−0.019 (− 0.035, − 0.002)	.03	−0.01 (− 0.04, 0.01)
Frequency of condomless anal intercourse last three months	0.12 (− 0.031, 0.28)	.12	0.37 (0.17, 0.57)	< .001	0.26 (−0.13, 0.65)
Non-specific disclosure	−0.08 (− 0.19, 0.03)	.16	− 0.093 (− 0.34, 0.15)	.46	0.12 (− 0.1, 0.33)
Disclosure to health provider	0.04 (− 0.11, 0.18)	.6	−0.041 (− 0.29, 0.20)	.74	−0.046 (− 0.29, 0.20)
N	85		85		85
Predicted mean for receiving a rectal test	0.33		0.41		0.32

Note: Marginal effects of probit with sample selection (outcome equation results shown). Confidence interval (CI) estimated using jackknife with clustering by sites and within-site groups. Receptive: Compared to MSM not indicating the receptive role, MSM indicating the receptive role are more likely to select the rectal gonorrhea and chlamydia test, compared to the urethral test; Insertive: Compared to MSM not indicating the insertive role, MSM indicating the insertive role are less likely to select the rectal gonorrhea and chlamydia test, compared to the urethral test; Versatile: Compared to MSM not indicating the versatile role, MSM indicating the versatile role have no gonorrhea and chlamydia test preference

ISSN: 1471-2458