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Background: Transgender persons are at high risk for STD and HIV acquisition, yet data describing this population is sparse. Furthermore, of the few analyses that examine transgender persons, no distinction is made between Male to Female (MTF) and Female to Male (FTM) transgender persons.
Objectives: To describe the sociodemographic, behavioral, and STD and HIV prevalences of MTF and FTM patients at San Francisco City Clinic.
Methods: STD Clinic patients self identify as MTF or FTM at registration. All patients undergo a physical exam and have risk behavior data collected through a standardized interview conducted by a clinician. STD and HIV testing is offered where applicable. We compared MTF and FTM City Clinic patient visits between January 2006 and December 2008. X2 and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compared categorical and continuous data, respectively.
Results: During the analytic period, there were 59 FTM and 163 MTF clinic visits. FTM (median age 28 years) were younger than MTF (median age 32 years) (p=0.0058). Nearly 75% of FTM visits were among whites compared to 20% for MTF (p<0.0001). MTF, compared to FTM, were more likely to report ever IDU (18.4% v. 5.1%, p=0.0137). FTM were less likely to report recent methamphetamine or cocaine use, compared to MTF. Positivity for gonorrhea, chlamydia, early syphilis, or HIV did not differ between FTM and MTF patient visits. HIV prevalence among FTM was 3.4% compared to 1.8% among MTF (p=0.6106).
Conclusions: In San Francisco, FTM and MTF City Clinic patients had different sociodemographic and behavioral risk characteristics, but no difference in HIV prevalence, or STD/HIV diagnoses.
Implications for Programs, Policy, and/or Research: MTF and FTM have differing STD and HIV prevention needs. Yet, sparse data exists to effectively direct and inform prevention interventions for this population of persons disproportionately burdened by HIV and STDs.