Combining Venue-Based Social Network Analysis and Geographic Information System Analysis to Inform HIV Prevention Among Young Men Who Have Sex with Men in Los Angeles County

Introduction: HIV risk among young men who have sex with men (YMSM) in the United States increased between 2006 and 2009, indicating a need for innovative prevention strategies for this population. In order to achieve the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy to reduce new infections and HIV health disparities among YMSM innovative methods for understanding HIV risk in YMSM communities are needed. Venue-based network analysis and geographic information systems (GIS) analysis are innovative tools for understanding YMSM HIV risk in both social and geographic space. These approaches can be combined to inform community level HIV prevention approaches with YMSM.

Methods: The present study used data from the NIDA-funded “Healthy Young Men” (HYM) Study and HIV incidence data from Los Angeles County (LAC) to understand the overlap between popular YMSM social venues and areas of high HIV incidence across LAC. Specifically, survey data was collected from HYM study participants, which included participants’ zip codes of residence and favorite “gay places” in which to socialize. Venue-based network analysis was employed to understand the popularity and interconnectivity of venues by their co-nomination among YMSM. GIS analysis was used to understand distribution of venues throughout LAC and their overlap with HIV incidence data gathered from AIDSVu.org.

Results: Out of 484 YMSM from the HYM study, 110 unique public venues were nominated as favorite places to socialize. HYM study participants hailed from 203 zip codes (over 65%) of 312 zip codes in LAC yet popular venues were concentrated in only 4 of those zip codes in West Hollywood, Hollywood and Long Beach (1.28% of zip codes in LAC). Almost all participants (99%) were connected by at least one venue and over 80% were connected by two or more venues, indicating a high potential for social interaction among YMSM based on shared venue attendance. The top 6 most nominated venues captured 87% of the total sample and were geographically located within 4.37 miles of one another. This geographic area also contained an HIV incidence rate of 5,155 per 100,000 residents, one of the highest in LAC.

Conclusions: YMSM in this study were highly interconnected by a small number of geographically proximal social venues, which were concentrated in geographic areas with high HIV incidence rates. YMSM often meet sexual partners in venues and through use of geolocating social networking applications, such as Grindr, which enable YMSM to locate partners based on geographic proximity. Prevention interventions that are venue-based and use geolocating technologies may be especially useful in reducing HIV infection among YMSM.