Contextual Factors of STI/HIV-Related Sexual Partnership in Urban North Carolina

Maria Khan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
David A. Wohl, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Caroline Moseley, Guilford County Department of Public Health
Kathy Norcott, Sickle Cell Disease Association of the Piedmont (SCDAP)
Jesse Duncan, Triad Health Project
Sandy Michael, NIA Community Action Center
Nancy Jackson, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Adaora A. Adimora, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Sharon Weir, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

We examined associations between HIV/STI-related sexual partnerships and contextual risk factors - poverty, substance abuse and incarceration - among individuals recruited at social venues in a North Carolina city (N=373). New/multiple sexual partnerships (past month) were more strongly associated with substance abuse and incarceration than poverty. Associations were strongest at venues with the highest prevalences of substance abuse and incarceration. Adjusting for socio-demographics and substance abuse, new/multiple partnership was associated with: substance abuse, at venues with the highest prevalences of substance abuse (top 25% of venues) (Prevalence Ratio (PR): 2.31, 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI): 1.21-4.40); prior incarceration, at venues with the highest incarceration prevalences (PR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.19-1.90); and, among women, incarceration of a sexual partner, at venues with the highest partner incarceration prevalences (PR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.00-1.76). STI/HIV intervention should target those with substance abuse and incarceration histories at venues where these factors are most common.