AEGiS-14IAC: Behavioural causes of condom failure among gay men.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

Behavioural causes of condom failure among gay men.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. TuOrD1200)

Hickson F, Weatherburn P, Keogh P, Henderson L, Reid DS
Sigma Research, London, United Kingdom

BACKGROUND: To assess, among gay and bisexual men in England and Wales, the attributable risk associated with seven behaviours thought to be likelihood of condom failure during insertive anal intercourse.

METHODS: |2462 men surveyed in the Summer 2001, using a self-completion, self-sealing, freepost-addressed leaflet questionnaire, distributed by 65 health promotion agencies throughout England and Wales. Questions included condom use, experience of failure and having done each of seven failure-related behaviours in the last year.

RESULTS: 1502 (61.7%) had worn a condom for insertive anal intercourse (IAI) in the last year (an increase on 57.7% in 2000). Overall, 11.7% of users had experienced failure at least once in the last year, continuing the decrease previously observed between 1998 and 2000 (from 15.7% to 13.3%). Behaviours asked about and proportions having done each were: Unrolling the condom before putting it on your cock (7.0%); Not using any lubricant (10.9%); Using saliva as a lubricant (16.2%); Putting lubricant inside the condom before putting it on (7.4%); Not using lots of water-based lubricant on the outside of the condom (8.8%); Using a condom that's too short for your cock (8.0%); having anal intercourse for more than half an hour without changing the condom (15.8%). In a multinomial logistic regression, significant independent associations occurred between condom failure and: Using a condom that's too short for your cock (OR=3.9, CI=2.5 6.2); having anal intercourse for over half an hour without changing the condom (OR=2.7, 1.8 3.9); Not using lots of water-based lubricant on the outside of the condom (OR=2.2, CI=1.4 3.7); and not using any lubricant (OR=2.0, CI=1.2 3.2).

CONCLUSION: A further reduction in condom failure requires wider availability of condom lengths and more condoms than there are sessions of anal intercourse to cover.

Keywords: AEGIS, Homosexuality, Male, Condoms, Homosexuality, Bisexuality, Lubrication, Questionnaires, England, Wales, Human, Male, etiology

020707
TuOrD1200