title: Sexual serosorting among women with or at risk of HIV infection.
abstract: Serosorting, the practice of selectively engaging in unprotected sex with partners of the same HIV serostatus, has been proposed as a strategy for reducing HIV transmission risk among men who have sex with men (MSM). However, there is a paucity of scientific evidence regarding whether women engage in serosorting. We analyzed longitudinal data on women's sexual behavior with male partners collected in the Women's Interagency HIV Study from 2001 to 2005. Serosorting was defined as an increasing trend of unprotected anal or vaginal sex (UAVI) within seroconcordant partnerships over time, more frequent UAVI within seroconcordant partnerships compared to non-concordant partnerships, or having UAVI only with seroconcordant partners. Repeated measures Poisson regression models were used to examine the associations between serostatus partnerships and UAVI among HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women. The study sample consisted of 1,602 HIV-infected and 664 HIV-uninfected women. Over the follow-up period, the frequency of seroconcordant partnerships increased for HIV-uninfected women but the prevalence of UAVI within seroconcordant partnerships remained stable. UAVI was reported more frequently within HIV seroconcordant partnerships than among serodiscordant or unknown serostatus partnerships, regardless of the participant's HIV status or types of partners. Among women with both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected partners, 41% (63 HIV-infected and 9 HIV-uninfected) were having UAVI only with seroconcordant partners. Our analyses suggest that serosorting is occurring among both HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women in this cohort.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Georgetown University, 2233 Wisconsin Ave NW, Suite 214, Washington, DC 20007, USA. cl278@georgetown.edu
authors.forename: Chenglong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Haihong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: Lakshmi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Goparaju
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Plankey
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bacchetti
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Nereida
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Correa
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nowicki
authors.forename: Tracey E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Wilson
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017280:Condoms / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission*; D018023:HIV Seronegativity; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000523:psychology / Q000635:transmission*; D015497:HIV-1 / Q000276:immunology; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D040242:Risk Reduction Behavior; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012650:Self Disclosure; D012747:Sexual Partners / Q000523:psychology*; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D047568:Unsafe Sex / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055815:Young Adult