title: Sexual risk behavior of married men and women in Bangladesh associated with husbands' work migration and living apart.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study aimed to ascertain the prevalence of sexual risk behavior among married men and women who had, or had not, lived apart from their spouse as a result of the husbands' work migration.
  
  
  METHODS
  A cross-sectional survey was conducted among a random sample of 1,175 married women and 703 married men in 2 rural areas of Bangladesh.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Extramarital sex was reported by 64.2% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 58.7-69.7) of 296 men and 8.6% (95% CI = 7.6-9.6) of 779 women who had lived apart from their spouse, 2 to 3 times higher than the proportions among those who had not lived apart (P <0.05). The proportions of men who reported sex with a female sex worker (50.7%; 95% CI = 45.0-56.4) or with another male (5.4%; 95% CI = 2.8-8.0), while living away, were double the proportions reporting they had done so before living away or among men who had not lived away (P <0.05). Only 2 men had ever used had a condom during sex with another male, and less than one third of men had used a condom during sex with a sex worker or during marital sex.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The sexual risk behavior of married men living away from home may put themselves and their wives at risk for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted diseases.
authors.affiliation: International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) Centre for Health and Population Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh. amercer@icddrb.org
authors.forename: Alex
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mercer
authors.forename: Rasheda
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khanam
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gurley
authors.forename: Tasnim
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Azim
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001459:Bangladesh / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018454:Spouses; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014171:Transients and Migrants / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*