Resumen

Background: Polydrug use among Latino men who inject drugs on the U.S.-Mexico border has been increasing over the last years yielding to negative health outcomes, (overdose), HIV high-risk behaviors (e.g. condomless sex), and other STIs. We explored HIV risk behaviors and the patters of drug use by sexual behavior (i.e. MSM vs non-MSM) among Latino men who inject drugs. Methods: The sample for this study included 160 men who inject drugs recruited through respondent driven sampling methodology. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS v.25. Independent sample t-test was used to identify mean differences and chi-squared to explore proportional differences on binomial substance use, STIs, and sexual risk behaviors. Results: MSM reported higher odds of employment (OR=1.96, p=0.007), but also higher use of inhalants (OR=1.96, p=0.044), methamphetamine (OR=2.42, p=0.005), and history STIs (OR=1.76, p=0.015). Participants were asked to report the number of times that different risk behaviors occur in the past 30 days; significant differences were found on the number of new sex partners reported by MSM vs non-MSM (Mean: 1.88 vs 0.54, p< 0.001), sex under the influence of a drug (Mean: 14.38 vs 6.83, p=0.43), engage in anal sex (Mean: 4.47 vs 1.21, p< 0.001), and exchange sex for money (Mean: 3.32 vs 0.92, p< 0.001). However, the number of times MSM engaged in condomless sex was lower than non-MSM (Mean: 4.53 vs 8.99, p=0.005). Finally, more MSM reported experienced sexual abuse before they were 18 years old (OR=1.81, p=0.016), and being gang raped (OR=7.04, p=0.007). Conclusions: Although MSM who inject drugs reported lower cases of condomless sex compared to their non-MSM counterpart, their sexual risk behaviors are higher, including sex under the influence of drugs which can decrease their willingness of use condom and be more susceptible to sexual violence. Risk reduction strategies including Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) could be a method to effectively reduce their HIV risks.