Sexual Contact Patterns in High-income Countries - A Comparative Analysis Using Data From Germany, The UK, and The US

Sexual contact patterns determine the spread of sexually transmitted infections, and are a central input parameter for mathematical models in this field. We evaluated the importance of country-specific contact pattern parametrization for high-income countries with similar cultural backgrounds by deriving estimates for sexual contact patterns in Germany from two independent studies (HaBIDS and SBG), and comparing them to data from the National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) in the UK, and the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) in the US. UK and US participants reported a substantially higher number of lifetime opposite-sex sexual partners compared to both German studies. The difference in lifetime partners was caused by a higher proportion of individuals with many partners in the young age group (< 24 years) in the UK and the US. Partner acquisition in older age groups was similar. The number of same-sex partners was similar across the countries, while there was heterogeneity in the reported experience with partners from both sexes, consistent with the differences observed for opposite-sex sexual partners. These patterns can lead to substantially different dynamics of sexually transmitted infections across age, and have strong impact on the results of modelling studies.