Health & Medicine
'Sex' Mobile Apps Increase the Risk of Sexually Transmitted Infections
Thomas Carannante
First Posted: Jun 13, 2014 01:58 PM EDT
With the rise of technology apparently comes a potential rise in sexually transmitted infections. Researchers in the United States found that smartphone apps helping someone look for casual sex partners are likely to affect one's sexual health.
Apps such as Tinder and Swipe are for the heterosexual crowd, while Grindr and Scruff are for homosexuals. These "hook up" apps allow for users to seek out casual sexual partners, which researchers believe pose an increased risk (especially for gay men) of sexually transmitted infections. The study primarily focused on the risk for homosexual males.
The researchers from the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center in Los Angeles published their study, "Sex on demand: geosocial networking phone apps and risk of sexually transmitted infections among a cross-sectional sample of men who have sex with men in Los Angeles county," in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. The study sought to find out the impact of sex apps for sexual health among homosexuals in the Los Angeles area.
A total of 7,184 gay and bisexual men were asked to answer questions at a sexual health clinic at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. 34% of the men met sex partners only in person (at bars, clubs, social events), 30% met partners in person as well as through Internet dating sites, and 36% met partners via smartphone apps and "other methods."
The results revealed that gay men using the smartphone "hook up" apps were 23% more likely to have gonorrhea and 35% were more likely to have chlamydia than gay men who used websites or social gatherings to meet new sexual partners. There was no difference in the risk of HIV and syphilis between the groups of men - likely good news because those diseases can be seriously detrimental to one's health.
"Advances which improve the efficiency of meeting anonymous sexual partners may have the unintended effect of creating networks of individuals where users may be more likely to have sexually transmissible infections," the researchers noted in this BBC News article.
Although the study only focused on gay and bisexual men, it's only appropriate to assume that heterosexual users of "hook up" apps are also at a higher risk for sexually transmitted infections. The extensive network of people pooled into the apps can only increase one's chances of engaging in sexual activity with someone who was exposed to or is infected with a sexually related disease/infection.
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First Posted: Jun 13, 2014 01:58 PM EDT
With the rise of technology apparently comes a potential rise in sexually transmitted infections. Researchers in the United States found that smartphone apps helping someone look for casual sex partners are likely to affect one's sexual health.
Apps such as Tinder and Swipe are for the heterosexual crowd, while Grindr and Scruff are for homosexuals. These "hook up" apps allow for users to seek out casual sexual partners, which researchers believe pose an increased risk (especially for gay men) of sexually transmitted infections. The study primarily focused on the risk for homosexual males.
The researchers from the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center in Los Angeles published their study, "Sex on demand: geosocial networking phone apps and risk of sexually transmitted infections among a cross-sectional sample of men who have sex with men in Los Angeles county," in the journal Sexually Transmitted Infections. The study sought to find out the impact of sex apps for sexual health among homosexuals in the Los Angeles area.
A total of 7,184 gay and bisexual men were asked to answer questions at a sexual health clinic at the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center. 34% of the men met sex partners only in person (at bars, clubs, social events), 30% met partners in person as well as through Internet dating sites, and 36% met partners via smartphone apps and "other methods."
The results revealed that gay men using the smartphone "hook up" apps were 23% more likely to have gonorrhea and 35% were more likely to have chlamydia than gay men who used websites or social gatherings to meet new sexual partners. There was no difference in the risk of HIV and syphilis between the groups of men - likely good news because those diseases can be seriously detrimental to one's health.
"Advances which improve the efficiency of meeting anonymous sexual partners may have the unintended effect of creating networks of individuals where users may be more likely to have sexually transmissible infections," the researchers noted in this BBC News article.
Although the study only focused on gay and bisexual men, it's only appropriate to assume that heterosexual users of "hook up" apps are also at a higher risk for sexually transmitted infections. The extensive network of people pooled into the apps can only increase one's chances of engaging in sexual activity with someone who was exposed to or is infected with a sexually related disease/infection.
See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone