Alcohol or drug use and compliance with safer sex guidelines for STD/HIV infection. Results from the French National Survey on Sexual Behavior (ACSF) among heterosexuals. Analyse des Comportements Sexuels en France.
BACKGROUND
Available literature shows that association of alcohol and/or drug use with unsafe sexual practices is not established, in contradistinction to the well-established association between such substance use and the sexual milieu itself.


OBJECTIVE
To analyze these two kinds of associations in a population-based sample of heterosexuals in France.


METHODS
Cross-sectional telephone survey of the French adult heterosexual population in the early 1990s (n = 4213).


RESULTS
Subjects at risk were more likely than those not at risk to have consumed alcohol before sex; this was not the case for drug use. However, at-risk subjects who engaged in unsafe practice(s) were not more likely to have consumed alcohol or drugs.


CONCLUSIONS
Alcohol consumption appears to be a marker for being in an at-risk situation in France and may be used as such by public health providers. In contrast, the association between alcohol/drug use and unsafe sexual practices is not supported by our study and thus conflicts with prevention strategies to increase compliance with safer sex through alcohol/drug abstinence.
Messiah
A
A
INSERM U-292, Hôpital de Bicêtre, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, Paris, France.
Bloch
J
J
Blin
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000428:Alcohol Drinking / Q000523:psychology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000523:psychology*