Sexual lifestyles in injecting drug users in Italy: potential for HIV infection transmission. First Multicentre Study Group.
To better target efforts aimed at modifying sexual behaviour among injecting drug users (IDUs), we conducted a detailed analysis of sexual partners and practices reported by 1214 Italian heterosexual drug users during the period June 1985-June 1987. Females were more likely to have only drug-using partners (42.8% vs 17.1%), while males were more likely to have only non drug-using partners (50.5% vs 21.4%). Female drug users were more likely to report either one partner or greater than 10 partners, while males were more likely to report 2-10 partners. Nearly 90% of women with only drug-using partners had only one partner. Overall, 29% of women with only non drug-using partners reported that they always used condoms. This proportion increased to 65% among women with greater than 10 non drug-using partners. In Italy, male IDUs may play a greater role than female IDUs in sexual transmission of HIV infection to the heterosexual non drug-using partners.
Centro Operativo AIDS, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy.
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D000328:Adult; D003431:Cross-Cultural Comparison; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000523:psychology* / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D012307:Risk Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology*