![gay bars london 2015 gay bars london 2015](https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/109FB/production/_85219086_85073128.jpg)
8 However, some international studies have suggested that some convenience surveys provide similar estimates of sexual risk behaviours as probability surveys. 6, 7 This is consistent with some international comparisons, which found greater risk behaviour reported by MSM in convenience surveys. Previous research has shown that MSM participating in venue-based convenience surveys were more likely to be younger, report greater sexual risk behaviours and sexually transmitted infection (STI) diagnoses than MSM who participated in Natsal-2. Nonetheless, Natsal enables assessment of the proportion of MSM who attend gay bars and clubs or use the internet to find a sexual partner, which are potentially useful in assessing the selection biases inherent in convenience surveys of MSM recruited through venues and websites. However, because the proportion of men having sex with men is relatively low, 1 the sample of MSM in general population surveys like Natsal is small, precluding anything but relatively rudimentary analyses. Probability sample surveys like Britain's National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) should recruit a more representative sample of MSM. 5 These surveys recruit certain subgroups of MSM but the proportion and particularities of the MSM population represented in such surveys is unknown. 4 More recently, web-based convenience surveys are being used, such as the European MSM Internet Survey (EMIS), which includes British men. Lancet HIV 2015 (in review).) and Scotland's Gay Men's Sexual Health Survey (Scotland-GMSHS). Temporal trends in HIV testing and undiagnosed HIV in community sample of men who have sex with men in London, UK 2000–13: an observational study. Convenience surveys have traditionally been venue-based such as at Gay Pride events, or in gay bars and clubs in the case of the London Gay Men's Sexual Health Survey (London-GMSHS) (S Wayal et al. Currently, all large surveys of MSM in the UK recruit using convenience sampling. To inform health promotion for this population in the UK, various surveys have been undertaken. 1 In 2013, 61% of HIV infections acquired in the UK were among MSM. Currently in Britain, an estimated 3% of men aged 16–74 years report sex with one or more men in the past 5 years. The emergence of the HIV epidemic in the 1980s prompted an unprecedented medical and social science interest in the sexual behaviour of men who have sex with men (MSM). Philip Prah, UCL Research Department of Infection & Population Health, 3rd floor, Mortimer Market Centre, off Capper Street, London WC1E 6JB, UK .uk 7 Department of Social & Environmental Health Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.6 Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.5 HIV/STI Department, Public Health England, London, UK.
![gay bars london 2015 gay bars london 2015](https://gaycities-listing-images-production.s3.amazonaws.com/originals/bars-306282-Toy-Boy-Bar-9718c.jpg)
![gay bars london 2015 gay bars london 2015](https://img.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeed-static/static/2015-09/9/7/enhanced/webdr13/original-3106-1441797383-8.jpg)
4 MRC/CSO Social & Public Health Sciences Unit, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK.3 UCL Institute of Education, London, UK.2 Sigma Research, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.1 Research Department of Infection & Population Health, University College London, London, UK.