Risky sexual behavior, bleeding caused by intimate partner violence, and hepatitis C virus infection in patients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic.
OBJECTIVE
We sought to investigate independent contributions of risky sexual behaviors and bleeding caused by intimate partner violence to prediction of HCV infection.


METHODS
We conducted a case-control study of risk factors among patients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic with and without HCV antibodies, group-matched by age.


RESULTS
Multivariate analyses indicated that Black race (odds ratio [OR] = 2.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.3, 4.4), injection drug use (OR = 20.3; 95% CI = 10.8, 37.8), sharing straws to snort drugs (OR = 1.8; 95% CI = 1.01, 3.0), sharing razors (OR = 7.8; 95% CI = 2.0, 31.0), and exposure to bleeding caused by intimate partner violence (OR = 5.5; 95% CI = 1.4, 22.8) contributed significantly to the prediction of HCV infection; risky sexual behavior and exposure to blood or sores during sexual intercourse did not.


CONCLUSIONS
HCV risk among patients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic can be explained by direct blood exposure, primarily through injection drug use. Exposure to bleeding caused by intimate partner violence may be a previously unrecognized mechanism for HCV transmission associated with risky sexual behavior.
Russell
Marcia
M
Pacific Institute for Research & Evaluation, Prevention Research Center, Berkeley, CA, USA russell@prev.org
Chen
Meng-Jinn
MJ
Nochajski
Thomas H
TH
Testa
Maria
M
Zimmerman
Scott J
SJ
Hughes
Patricia S
PS
D001741:Black or African American; D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D005260:Female; D006470:Hemorrhage / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000635:transmission*; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009518:New York / Q000453:epidemiology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012309:Risk-Taking; D013179:Spouse Abuse / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018454:Spouses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D047568:Unsafe Sex