Alcohol Use and Sexual Risk Behavior Among Human Immunodeficiency Virus-Positive Persons

• Published in: Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research Vol. 29; no. 5; pp. 837 - 843
• Main Authors: Stein, Michael, Herman, Debra S., Trisvan, Elizabeth, Pirraglia, Paul, Engler, Patricia, Anderson, Bradley J.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.05.2005; Lippincott Williams & Wilkins
• Subjects: Adult; Alcohol Drinking - psychology; Alcoholism and acute alcohol poisoning; Anti-HIV Agents - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Cocaine-Related Disorders - complications; Cocaine-Related Disorders - psychology; Cohort Studies; Ethnic Groups; Female; HIV Seropositivity - drug therapy; HIV Seropositivity - psychology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Risk-Taking; Sexual Behavior - physiology; Substance-Related Disorders - complications; Substance-Related Disorders - psychology; Toxicology; Treatment Outcome; Human; Immunopathology; Ethanol; Alcoholism; Retroviridae; AIDS; Alcohol; Risk taking; Immune deficiency; Lentivirus; Infection; Virus; Alcoholic beverage; Viral disease; HIV Sexual Risk; Risk factor; Human immunodeficiency virus
• ISSN: 0145-6008; 1530-0277
• DOI: 10.1097/01.ALC.0000164363.40533.E0

Background: This study was undertaken to determine if alcohol use is associated with sexual risk taking among human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected persons. Methods: Cross‐sectional interviews of 262 HIV‐infected patients in the Brown University AIDS Program were performed. Factors associated with any sexual activity, unsafe sexual activity, and a 4‐fold typology of sexual risk were examined. Alcohol measures included drinking days, drinks per drinking day, binge drinking, and hazardous alcohol use. Results: The sample was 58% male and 40% white; 67% of patients were self‐identified as heterosexual, and 48% drank alcohol. Nearly two thirds of patients reported sexual activity in the past 6 months, with 38% reporting unprotected sex during that period. All measures of alcohol use were significantly associated with any sexual activity and with unsafe sexual behavior. As an example, controlling for age, HIV transmission risk, marital status, and HIV clinical indicators, hazardous drinkers were 5.64 times more likely to report unprotected sex and have multiple partners (p < 0.01) than were those not drinking at hazardous levels. Conclusions: A high proportion of HIV‐infected persons were sexually active and having unsafe sex. Alcohol, at all levels of use, was associated with increased sexual risk taking.