Irwin TW, Morgenstern JM; International Conference on AIDS (15th : 2004 : Bangkok, Thailand).

Int Conf AIDS. 2004 Jul 11-16; 15: abstract no. WePeC6154.

Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, United States

Background: In the research literature, there are numerous articles that support the general finding that heavy drinkers tend to put themselves at higher risk for HIV than those who drink less (Weinhardt & Carey, 2000). However, studies that have attempted to investigate a direct or causal link by examining the temporal relationship between drinking and unsafe sex have most often found that risky sexual behavior is just as likely while not drinking as when under the influence of alcohol (Leigh, 2002). The current study investigated the nature of the relationship between drinking and sexual risk behavior among a sample of HIV negative men who have sex with men (MSM) diagnosed with alcohol use disorders. The primary hypothesis for this study was that drinking prior to anal intercourse with non-primary partners reduces the likelihood of condom use. Methods: Participants were 42 HIV negative MSM who engaged in anal intercourse under the influence and also when not drinking. The timeline followback method (TLFB) (Carey et al., 2001; Sobell & Sobell, 1992; Sobell, Brown, Leo, & Sobell, 1996; Weinhardt, et al., 1998) was used to obtain data 30-day period prior to the interview. A proportion variable was then calculated separately for those events that occurred under the influence of alcohol and those that were not. Results: Results indicate that protection during insertive anal sex is not significantly influenced by alcohol; however, for receptive anal sex, drinking prior to the sexual event significantly increases the likelihood of risk behavior (t (18)= 2.15, p<.05). Conclusions: Results from this study provides evidence of a temporal relationship between alcohol use and sexual risk taking using an event-based methodology. Results also indicate that for HIV negative MSM, receptive anal sex may be more susceptible to the effects of alcohol than insertive anal sex and also suggest that it may be important for studies analyzing HIV risk for MSM to analyze insertive anal sex and receptive anal sex independently.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Alcohol Drinking
• Alcoholism
• Digestion
• Feeding Behavior
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Humans
• Male
• Research
• Risk-Taking
• Safe Sex
• Sexual Behavior
• Substance-Related Disorders
• Unsafe Sex

Other ID:

• GWAIDS0039856

UI: 102284072

From Meeting Abstracts