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British men who pay for sex also have many unpaid sexual partners, according to a study. Men who paid for sex within past five years are often young, single professionals, with a taste of binge drinking and recreational drugs, the study added. 

Findings of the study is based on a detailed analysis of data from the third National Survey of sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles. It was carried out between 2010 and 2012. 

The study found out more about the profile of those who pay of sex by focusing on their responses to question about paid-for sex. The study also found their risk of, and potential role in, the transmission of sexually transmitted infections. 

More than one in 10 (11%) of the men said they had paid for sex at some point in their adult lives; 3.6% said they had done so within the previous five years; and just over 1% said they had done so within the preceding 12 months, the press release added.

Almost two thirds of those (62.6%) who had paid for sex had done so outside the UK, with Europe and Asia the most popular destinations, the study noted.

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

"The evidence found that men paying for sex report high numbers of partners, including foreign partners outside the UK, and are more likely to report STI diagnoses, supports that they are a key population to be targeted," said  Professor Sonia Dias, of the Institute of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at the University of Lisbon in Portugal in a linked editorial.

The study was published in the British Medical Journal.