416
A.
R. WOHL ET AL.
TABLE 2. Sexual
behaviors in women with HIV and AIDS interviewed in
Los Angeles County, 1990-1997
Behavior |
(n
=168) |
(n =
87) |
(n =
357) |
(n
=12) |
| Number of male sexual partners in last 5
years |
| >1 |
103 |
61 |
44 |
51 |
125 |
35 |
5 |
42 |
| 1 |
46 |
27 |
33 |
38 |
188 |
53 |
6 |
50 |
| 0 |
46 |
27 |
33 |
38 |
188 |
53 |
6 |
50 |
| Missing
information |
2 |
1 |
0 |
- |
2 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
| ORa
comparing >I partners with 0 I partners = 2.3b; 95% CI = 1.6, 3.4 |
| In year before learning of HIV infection,
how often used condoms with your steady sex partner?c |
| Never |
69 |
69 |
26 |
62 |
128 |
67 |
3 |
38 |
| Sometimes |
14 |
14 |
4 |
10 |
21 |
11 |
1 |
13 |
| Usually |
3 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
5 |
3 |
0 |
- |
| Every time |
6 |
6 |
3 |
7 |
15 |
8 |
1 |
13 |
| Did not have sex
with anyone |
6 |
6 |
5 |
12 |
20 |
10 |
1 |
13 |
| Did not have
steady sex partner |
2 |
2 |
1 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
25 |
| ORa
comparing never with sometimes, usually, or every time = 1.0; 95% CI = 0.6, 1.8 |
| Since you learned of your HIV infection,
how often did you use condoms with your steady sex partner?c |
| Never |
11 |
11 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
8 |
0 |
- |
| Sometimes |
13 |
13 |
2 |
5 |
14 |
7 |
0 |
- |
| Usually |
11 |
11 |
4 |
10 |
14 |
7 |
2 |
25 |
| Every time |
37 |
37 |
16 |
38 |
78 |
41 |
3 |
38 |
| Did not have sex
with anyone |
23 |
23 |
13 |
31 |
59 |
31 |
3 |
38 |
| Did not have
steady sex partner |
5 |
5 |
3 |
7 |
8 |
4 |
0 |
- |
| Unknown |
0 |
- |
0 |
- |
2 |
1 |
0 |
- |
| ORa
comparing never to sometimes, usually or every time=1.2; 95% CI's: 0.5, 2.7 |
| In past 5 years, has anyone given you
money or drugs to have sex with them? |
| Yes |
32 |
19 |
10 |
11 |
20 |
4 |
1 |
8 |
| No |
134 |
80 |
77 |
89 |
336 |
95 |
11 |
92 |
| Refused to Answer |
2 |
1 |
0 |
- |
1 |
0 |
0 |
- |
| ORa
= 2.0d; 95% CI = 1.2, 3.5 |
OR, odds ratio; Cl, confidence interval;
SHAS, Supplement to the HIV and AIDS Surveillance Project.
aOR and 95% CIs were calculated comparing African-American
women with women of all other races.
bAdjusted OR controlling for STD history.
c This question was introduced in SHAS in 1995 and
therefore only asked of approximately 50% of the subjects.
d Adjusted OR controlling for number of sexual partners in
last 5 years.
| With
respect to non-injection drug use behavior, 55% of African-American women reported some
noninjection drug use in the past 5 years, a proportion that was significantly larger than
that for women of other races, when controlling for number of sexual partners (OR = 3.3;
95% CI = 2.2, 4.9). The analyses of crack use, controlled for number of sexual partners,
show that African-American women were 4.7 (95% CI = 3.2, 7.1) times more likely to report
ever using crack when compared with women of other races (Table 5). DISCUSSION
The profile
that emerges for African -American women with HIV and AIDS in LAC is that of a group of
women who are impoverished, unemployed, single parents, living on public
assistance. Moreover, the extremely low annual household incomes of this sample of
African- American women with HIV and AIDS in LA Cunderscores the fact that
African-American |
women with HIV
and AIDS are from the lowest socioeconomic strata of this large urban center (12).
However, the temporal association between socioeconomic status and HIV risk for
African-American women is not clear. That is, HIV infection or disease may have
contributed to the loss of employment and subsequent income, resulting in the need for
public assistance. Some authors have qualitatively described this profile of
African-American women as one that emerges from a culture of poverty that includes
overcrowded housing and economic dependence of the African-American woman on her injection
drugusing partner, both factors that place a woman at greater risk for HIV (2,13).
The delay seen among African-American women in seeking treatment for their
HIV infection is consistent with findings of the lower use of outpatient services and
medical care in general by persons of color with HIV when compared with that of white
persons (14,15). It is |
Journal of Acquired
Immune Deficiency Syndromes and Human Retrovirology, Vol 19, No. 4, December 1, 1998
|