Most Americans Not Having Risky Sex

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Most US adults do not engage in sexual behaviors that could put them at high risk of contracting HIV, and those who do are more likely to use a condom, federal researchers report.

Dr. Deborah Holtzman and colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta, Georgia, looked at HIV-related risk behaviors among more than 35,000 adults from 25 states. The survey participants were randomly selected from the general US population.

More than 90% of respondents reported having one or no sexual partner in the preceding year. About one-quarter said they used a condom the last time they had intercourse, according to the survey results published in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health, journal of the American Public Health Association.

And while men, African Americans and young adults were more likely than other groups to have two or more sexual partners, they were also more likely to have used a condom the last time they had sex, the report indicates.

Only 4% of respondents said they had either tested positive for HIV or had engaged in behaviors strongly linked to HIV infection--such as intravenous drug use or unprotected anal intercourse. But close to 8% of respondents thought their risk of HIV was ``high'' or ``medium.''

``From our general population survey, we found that most adults were not at risk for HIV infection,'' Holtzman's team writes.

Keeping track of Americans' risk behaviors, they note, is a key part of following HIV/AIDS in the US.

``These data,'' the authors point out, ``can show the effect the epidemic has had on most Americans.''

SOURCE: American Journal of Public Health 2001;91:1882-1888.

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