London, Nov 18 (IANS): Young, single British professionals with a taste for binge drinking and recreational drugs are willing to pay for sex and are fine with possessing multiple sexual partners, but face a heightened risk of both acquiring and passing on sexually transmitted infections, says a new study.

Men who said they had paid for sex outside Britain found sexual partners online, it found.

Almost two-thirds of those (62.6 percent) who had paid for sex had done so outside Britain, with Europe and Asia the most popular destinations.

"The evidence strongly supports the idea that these men are a bridge for dissimilar sexual mixing and for the spread of sexually-transmitted infections," the researchers said.

For the study, researchers looked at a detailed analysis of data from the third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3), carried out between 2010 and 2012.

The survey questioned 6,108 men about paid-for sex to find out more about the behaviour and profile of those who pay for sex and their risk of, and potential role in, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections.

More than one in 10 (11 percent) of the men said they had paid for sex at some point in their adult lives.

"Those aged between 25 and 34 were most likely to have done so within the past five years, and they were three times more likely to have done so than 16 to 24-year-olds," the researchers added.

Paying for sex within the past five years was associated with being single, having a managerial/professional job, binge drinking and using recreational drugs other than cannabis.

"Compared with other men, those who had paid for sex within the past five years were around twice as likely to say they had been diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection, visited a sexual health clinic or been tested for HIV," said lead study author Kyle Jones.

"The evidence found that men paying for sex report high numbers of partners, including foreign partners outside Britain and are more likely to report STI diagnoses," added professor Sonia Dias from the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at the University of Lisbon in Portugal in a linked editorial.