AEGiS-14IAC: AIDS sexual risk behaviour among addicts in Brazil.

14th International AIDS Conference


Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

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AIDS sexual risk behaviour among addicts in Brazil.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. LbPeD9044)

Silveira D, Silveira ED
PROAD/Dept. of Psychiatry/Federal University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

BACKGROUND: Only a small percentage of Brazilian addicts use IV drugs. The main objective of this survey is to describe factors related to AIDS risk behaviour among Brazilian addicts.

METHODS: We interviewed 1056 addicts from an outpatient care unit in Sao Paulo, Brazil, to examine possible risk behaviours associated to demographics, patterns of drug use and depressive symptoms.

RESULTS: The subjects presented a mean age of 26.5 years (SD=9.5), 86.9 % were male and 65 % single. Most addicts (59 %) systematically failed to engage in safe sexual practices. Rate of HIV+ was 3.8 % and 37.5 % of the seropositive addicts had never been IV drug users. Among seropositives only 43.7 % referred safe sexual behaviour. Alcohol dependants were more prone to neglect safe sexual practices than cocaine dependants (68.7 % and 63.6 %, respectively). Frequency of alcohol consumption was associated to unsafe sexual practices among men (p < 0.05). The presence of depressive symptoms was related to unsafe sexual behaviour among women (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: We confirmed that among Brazilian addicts the factors associated with AIDS risk behaviour seem to be strongly related to sexual behaviour. A considerable percentage of HIV-positive addicts were not infected through IV drug use. The amount of alcohol consumption is definitely an important risk factor for HIV infection among men and the presence of depressive symptoms seems to play an important role in neglecting safe sexual practices among women. In a broader sense, addicts display polymorphic patterns of behaviours suggesting the need to find specific strategies towards different sub-groups of addicts. Nevertheless, further studies are required to establish defined profiles of dependants according to risk exposure for the infection.

Keywords: AEGIS, Sex Behavior, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Risk Factors, Risk-Taking, HIV Seropositivity, Substance Abuse, Intravenous, Alcohol Drinking, Substance-Related Disorders, Alcoholism, Data Collection, Social Behavior, Brazil, Human, Female, Male

020707
LbPeD9044

Copyright © 2002 - International AIDS Society (IAS). Reproduction of this abstract (other than one copy for personal reference) must be cleared through the IAS.