Gay Neighborhoods: Can They Be Identified in a Systematic Way Using Latent Class Analysis?

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Sociology

Background:

• Targeting HIV prevention for men who have sex with men (MSM) requires accurate identification of gay neighborhoods.
• Existing methods for identifying these areas may be insufficient for public health initiatives.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify gay neighborhoods using latent class analysis (LCA).
• To assess the utility of LCA for public health targeting of HIV prevention efforts.

Main Methods:

• Latent class analysis (LCA) applied to ZIP code-level data.
• Data sources included the American Community Survey, gay venue websites, and HIV surveillance data.
• Cohen's kappa coefficient assessed agreement between LCA classification and website data.

Main Results:

• A two-class model identified approximately 9% of ZIP codes as gay neighborhoods.
• Fair agreement (0.2501) was found between LCA-identified neighborhoods and website listings.
• The study highlights the potential of identified areas for disseminating HIV prevention information.

Conclusions:

• Latent class analysis can identify gay neighborhoods for public health interventions.
• Improved population-level survey measures, like the US Census question on same-sex spouses, are crucial for future identification.
• Gay neighborhoods are valuable locations for distributing information on pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and other HIV prevention strategies.