The intersection between sex and drugs: a cross-sectional study among the spouses of injection drug users in Chennai, India

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Canjeevaram K Vasudevan¹  Kailapuri G Murugavel¹  Sethulakshmi C Johnson¹  M Suresh Kumar¹  Sunil S Solomon¹  Aylur K Srikrishnan¹  Suniti Solomon¹  Santhanam Anand¹  Shruti H Mehta²  David D Celentano² 

[1] YR Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education, VHS Adyar, 600113, Taramani, Chennai, India;YR Gaitonde Centre for AIDS Research and Education, VHS Adyar, 600113, Taramani, Chennai, India;Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe Street, 21205, Baltimore, MD, USA;

关键词: Intimate Partner Violence;    Sexual Violence;    Injection Drug User;    Primary Partner;    Lifetime Sexual Partner;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1471-2458-11-39

 received in 2010-08-07, accepted in 2011-01-16,  发布年份 2011

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundIt is estimated that there are up to 1.1 million injection drug users (IDUs) in India; the majority are likely married. We characterize HIV, hepatitis B (HBV) and hepatitis C (HCV) prevalence and the risk environment of a sample of spouses of IDUs.MethodsA cohort of 1158 IDUs (99% male) was recruited in Chennai, India from 2005-06. A convenience sample of 400 spouses of the male IDUs in this cohort was recruited in 2009. A risk assessment questionnaire was administered and a blood sample collected. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with prevalent HIV.ResultsMedian age was 31 years; thirteen percent were widowed and 7% were not currently living with their spouse. Only 4 (1%) reported ever injecting drugs; Twenty-two percent and 25% reported ever using non-injection drugs and alcohol, respectively. The majority had one lifetime sexual partner and 37 (9%) reporting exchanging sex. Only 7% always used condoms with their regular partner. HIV, HBV and HCV prevalence were 2.5%, 3.8% and 0.5%, respectively; among spouses of HIV+ IDUs (n = 78), HIV prevalence was 10.3%. The strongest predictor of HIV was spousal HIV status (OR: 17.9; p < 0.001). Fifty-six percent of women had ever experienced intimate partner violence; Eight-six percent reported sexual violence.ConclusionsOur finding of a 10-fold higher HIV prevalence among spouses of IDUs compared with general population women indicates their vulnerability; prevalence is likely to increase given the context of low condom use and frequent sexual violence. Prevention efforts directed at IDUs should also include programs for spouses.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Solomon et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2011. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.