Characteristics associated with men who have sex with men (MSM) who are ‘frequent’ consumers of alcohol: Findings from a bio-behavioral survey in India

We examined the correlates of frequent alcohol use among men who have sex with men (MSM) to inform designing alcohol abuse interventions. Survey data from 3,880 MSM from three Indian states were analyzed using binary logistic regression. We categorized those who reported consuming alcohol daily or once a week as ‘frequent’ drinkers (40% of the sample) and those who consumed less than a week or did not drink as ‘infrequent’ drinkers. Among frequent drinkers, about two-thirds were above 24 years (66%), most (85%) were literate, about a half (53%) self-identified as Kothi – feminine/receptive, and about three-fourths had paying partners (73%) and were exposed to any HIV prevention interventions (78%). In multivariate analysis, frequent alcohol users were more likely to be non-kothi-identified MSM (AOR 1.35, p<0.001), exposed to HIV intervention (AOR 1.22, p<0.05), and to have paying/paid partners (AOR 1.56, p<0.001); and less likely to use condom with paying male partners (AOR 1.51, p<0.001) and to report being in self-help groups (AOR 0.738, p<0.001). HIV interventions among MSM need to screen for alcohol use and refer frequent alcohol users to alcohol dependence interventions. Future studies need to identify the various causes behind alcohol use among MSM.