[Depressive symptoms and associated sexual behaviors among men who have sex with men in Foshan, Guangdong province].

Objective: To understand the prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated sexual characteristics among men who have sex with men (MSM) in Foshan, Guangdong province.

Methods: Respondent-driven sampling method was used to recruit MSM who were 18 years and older, living in Foshan longer than 6 months. Scales of depression, demographical information, and characteristics of sexual behaviors were collected using a self-designed questionnaire. Respondent-Driven Sampling Analysis Tool and SAS were used to generate crude and estimated population proportion as well as 95% confidence intervals (CI). Multivariate logistic regression was performed to explore potential factors associated with depressive symptoms.

Results: Among 249 respondents, the mean age (standard deviation) was 31.9 (8.5) years, with 43.5% of them having had 7-9 years of education while 25.9% had 10-12 years. 49.7% of the respondents were currently married. 56.7% of them had bisexual orientation. 42.3% of them met their sex partners in parks/toilet and 63.3% of them had their first sex with a female. The estimated prevalence of depressive symptoms was 34.8% (28.2-42.3) among MSM in Foshan. Younger age, lower education levels, only had oral sex, and regularly meeting sexual partners in parks were associated with depressive symptoms, with the adjusted odd ratio (95%CI) as 3.31 (1.39-7.86), 2.23 (1.01-4.93), 3.09 (1.10-8.70) and 2.38 (1.20-4.75), respectively.

Conclusion: Depression related symptoms might associate with the demographical and sexual characteristics of MSM in Foshan, suggesting that psychological interventions should involve components as demographical and sexual characteristics.