Men who have sex with men (MSM) tend to take more sexual risks after starting use of crystal meth, aidsmap reports. Publishing their findings in the Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes, researchers conducted a cohort study on MSM in an HIV testing program in San Diego between April 2008 and July 2014.

During that time, the 8,905 participants received 17,272 HIV tests.

The researchers quantified the participants’ sexual risk-taking through the San Diego Early Test (SDET) scoring system, which predicts how likely someone is to contract HIV.

A total of 754 participants (8.5 percent) reported using meth during the previous year, which the investigators considered “recent” use. SDET scores were much higher among the recent meth users compared with the 5,922 MSM who said they had never taken the drug. There were 82 participants who were tested for HIV more than once and who started taking meth between testing visits; their SDET scores significantly increased after starting meth.

To read the aidsmap article, click here.

To read the study abstract, click here.