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Loading ...Binge drinking linked to increased HIV risk
01.07.2009 2:45pm EST
(New York City) New Yorkers who binge drink tend to have many more sex partners, putting themselves at an increased risk for sexually transmitted diseases compared with those who drink less or don’t drink at all, according to a new Health Department.
The report - Alcohol Use and Risky Sex in New York City - shows that teenagers who drink are also more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviors, including having multiple sex partners.Drinking may also be responsible for more sexual transmission of HIV than drug use because it is much more common, particularly among high-risk men who have sex with men.
The report found that about 15 percent of adults - some 883,000 - report binge drinking, defined as five or more drinks on one occasion, at least once a month.
The new study, based on the Health Department’s 2007 Community Health Survey, found that binge drinkers are 50 percent more likely than non-binge drinkers - and three times more likely than non-drinkers - to report having two to four sexual partners in the past year.
Both drinkers and non-drinkers reported high rates of sex without a condom.
“Heavy drinkers are more likely to have multiple partners - increasing their risk of HIV, other STDs, and unplanned pregnancy,” said Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, New York City Health Commissioner.
“Many New Yorkers recognize that drinking increases the risk of injuries and auto accidents, but they may not recognize these other risks. Reducing the amount that people drink can help prevent HIV and other STDs. With rates of syphilis rising, as well as HIV among young MSM, it is important to look at how drinking may be contributing to the problem.”
Men who have sex with men (MSM) are at particularly high risk of binge drinking and its negative consequences the report found.
One in four MSM say they binge drink, compared to one in seven adults city-wide. And MSM who binge drink are twice as likely as non-drinking MSM to report having five or more sex partners in the past year.
In addition to the Community Health Survey, the new report draws on local data from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance project, which is based on interviews with MSM in gay bars and other venues. While not representative of MSM on the whole, the interviews shed additional light on a subset of this population the Health Department said.
Within this group, 27 percent of the men who had casual partners said they were under the influence of alcohol during their last sexual encounter, and 12 percent were under the influence of alcohol and drugs.
Among men who reported having 20 or more sexual partners in the past year, almost half were under the influence of alcohol the last time they had sex. Drinking also reduced the chances - from 86 percent to 65 percent - that a man having receptive anal intercourse - the highest risk act - would be protected by a condom.
Damn guys, wrap it up up ALWAYS!
Did society not learn a friggin thing from the early 80’s?
How is this news, the more one drinks, the more one tends to unhinge one’s brain and if you have several people together, the more they drink together, maybe the more they unhinge their brains together and do unthinking things together, like gee, I (we) must have forgotten THE condom (s) or as they say preservative in Europe, (like in preserve a few lives, HELLO? preservative or condom, same idea). I know I had a good time, but how did I wind up with HIV? Kind of like put 2 + 2 together folks?
no condom might = increased health risk.
A no-brainer except to a brain unhinged on too much booze.
Not much useful information here. The writer seems to be making assumptions that cannot be supported. The study used information from
“the Community Health Survey, (and)… local data from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance project, which is based on interviews with MSM in gay bars and other venues.
Persons more likely to engage in risky behavior like multiple sex partners and unprotected sex may also engage in binge drinking. There may not be a cause and effect being documented but rather a confluence of risky behaviors. Also, if you sample people at a bar, it is likely that they are there to drink, and to seek sexual partners and will skew any attempt at a representative sample. How do you account for binge drinkers who stay home and don’t have multiple sex partners or forgo condom use? You won’t be likely to hear from them if you take surveys in bars. At least the Health Dept had the honesty to note that the sample was not likely to be representative of MSM but the author seems determined to draw conclusions nonetheless.