Youth and Adults Continue to Engage in Risky Behaviors After HIV Diagnosis

A study in the January issue of the American Journal of Public Health examines risky behaviors such as unprotected sexual contact and needle sharing in HIV-infected youth.

Researchers examined data from the Seattle-King County Adult/Adolescent Spectrum of HIV-Related Disease Study collected between 1990 and 1998.

Specifically, they looked at the behavior of 139 HIV-positive youth (defined as younger than 22 years of age at diagnosis or younger than 25 years of age at study entry).

Risky behaviors included unsafe sexual contact (unprotected anal, genital, or oral intercourse), exchange of sexual favors for money or drugs, and needle sharing. Women who became pregnant and individuals who contracted sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) were also considered engaging in risky behavior.

Findings

Youth

• 28% of young men exhibited evidence of risky behaviors after HIV infection; for example, 22% reported having unprotected same-sex sexual contact.

• 66% of young women exhibited evidence of risky behaviors after HIV infection; for example, 61% reported unprotected heterosexual sexual contact.

• 15% of young men and 18% of young women reported contracting an acute STD.

Adults

Researchers compared these findings to data collected from 2,880 HIV-positive adult participants in the same study. (Adult was defined as 22 years old or older at HIV diagnosis or 25 years old or older at study entry).

• 16% of adult men engaged in risky behavior; for example, 12% of adult men reported unprotected sexual contact with a member of the same sex.

• 39% of adult women reported engaging in risky behavior; for example, 38% reported unprotected heterosexual sexual contact.

• 4% of adult men and 14% of adult women reported contracting an acute STD.

Overall, the study found that youth were more than twice as likely as adults to continue engaging in risky behaviors after HIV infection. In addition, youth were significantly more likely than adults to be diagnosed with at least one episode of an acute STD.

The authors suggest a variety of interventions that could benefit young people with HIV infection, including public health campaigns, school-based interventions, clinician attention and counseling at all medical visits, and treatment for substance abuse and mental illness.

For more information:

C. Diamond, "Continued Risky Behavior in HIV-Infected Youth," American Journal of Public Health, January 2000, vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 115-18.