Attempted Suicide Among Men Who Have Sex With Men In Foshan

Objective: To explore the prevalence, epidemic characteristics and associated factors of attempted suicide among men who have sex with men in Foshan, Guangdong. In order to provide scientific evidence for suicide crisis intervention among men who have sex with men in HIV voluntary counseling and testing service.Methods: Using respondent driven sampling, 202 men who have sex with men were recruited to complete quesetionnaires by face-to-face interview that obtained information about demographic data, suicide and sexual factors, including the time of onset of attempted suicide, sexual-related factors, personality, suicide ideation, suicide attempts and other information. We used RDSAT and SPSS to describe the data. Weight for dependant variable was calculated by RDSAT and imported into SPSS multivariate non-conditional Logistic regression model for related factors of suicide attempts.Results:Among 202 men who have sex with men (MSM), age ranged from 18 to 49 years, with median (interquartile range) of 29.6(24.5~36.2) years. 50.0% of respondents self-reported bisexual sexual orientation (101/202), 39.6% were homosexuals (80/202). 20.8% (42/202) thought that their sexual attractiveness of all was from the same sex, 43.6% (88/202) that comes from most of same-sex sexual attraction. Only 7.0% (14/202) of respondents asked doctors or psychiatrists for help because of sexual orientation issues. 70.1% of respondents (141/202) failed to " out of the closet " to disclose their sexual orientation ("out of the closet"). 84.7% participants had anal sex in the past 6 months. 37.0% (75/171) had receptive anal sex. Lifetime prevalence of suicide attempts among 202 MSM was 9.9% (20/202), the adjusted prevalence of suicide attempts was 8.4% (95% CI: 5.0～12.1). Of 20 subjects who had attempted suicide, 75% (15/20) had once attempted; 25% had attempted suicide several times, including 3 had 2 attempts, 1 had 3 attempts, 1 had 5 times. The first attempted suicide occured at the age of 18 to 45 years, median (interquartile range) 22.8(24.4~33.8). The main reason of first suicide attempt was relationship problems. The main negative life events one year before the firtst attempted suicide was study and work. Unconditional Logistic regression analysis showed that sexual orientation as heterosexual, out of the closet, the role of anal sex as receptive, higher scores of impulsivity, higher scores of aggression were associated factors of suicide attempts.Conclusion There was a high prevalence of suicide attempts among men who have sex with men in Foshan, Guangdong. Attempted suicide occured when a variety of factors exist. We should pay more attention to the associated factors of suicide attempt in suicide risk evaluation and crisis intervention to prevent suicide among men who have sex with men.