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Alcohol Use and Sexual Risk Taking Among Hazardously Drinking Drug Injectors Who Attend Needle Exchange
Author(s) -
Stein Michael D.,
Anderson Bradley,
Charuvastra Anthony,
Friedmann Peter D.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2001.tb02151.x
Subject(s) - drug , alcohol , medicine , gynecology , psychiatry , chemistry , biochemistry
Background: To determine if sex‐risk days are also alcohol use days for active injection drug users. Methods: Cross‐sectional interview of 187 active injection drug users who scored positively (≥8) on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test who were recruited between February 1998 and October 1999 from a needle exchange program in Providence, Rhode Island. A sex‐risk day was defined as “vaginal sex, anal sex or oral sex without a condom,” measured by using a 30 day timeline follow‐back procedure. Results: The sample was 64% male and 87% white, and 85% met DSM‐IV criteria for alcohol abuse/dependence. Of the total days analyzed ( n = 5610), 19% were sex‐risk days; on 52% of these days drinking also occurred. By using a generalized estimating equation model to cluster by subject, alcohol use was associated with sex‐risk days (odds ratio, 1.76; 95% confidence interval, 1.35–2.29; p < 0.001), when we controlled for gender, age, race, education, cocaine use, injection frequency, exchanging sex for money or drugs, number of sexual partners, and perceived sexual risk of acquiring human immunodeficiency virus from partners. Conclusions: Alcohol use is associated with sex risk‐taking behavior among injection drug users. A substantial majority of participants reported using alcohol before or during sexual relations, which temporally links alcohol use with human immunodeficiency virus injection risk.