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The Context of HIV Risk Among Drug Users and Their Sexual Partners

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A fourth study <strong>of</strong> gay/bisexual men, the Boston <strong>Partners</strong> Study, has<br />

recently published rates <strong>of</strong> NMPD use over the previous 5 years reported<br />

at entry between 1985-1988. For the most commonly used drugs<br />

reported by seronegative (N=275) <strong>and</strong> seropositive (N=206) men,<br />

respectively, prevalence rates were 79 percent <strong>and</strong> 88 percent for<br />

marijuana, 64 percent <strong>and</strong> 84 percent for poppers, <strong>and</strong> 56 percent <strong>and</strong><br />

73 percent for cocaine (Seage et al. 1992).<br />

Differences among these five studies may reflect differences in sampling<br />

methods <strong>and</strong> retrospective recall periods, or may indicate actual<br />

differences in NMPD use preferences among gay/bisexual men in<br />

different United States cities. <strong>The</strong>se studies indicate the relative<br />

popularity <strong>of</strong> specific NMPDs among gay/bisexual men in four cities <strong>and</strong><br />

recruited through differing mechanisms during the mid-1980s, a time <strong>of</strong><br />

particularly high rates <strong>of</strong> drug use in these communities. In fact,<br />

approximately half <strong>of</strong> the men in both the SFMHS <strong>and</strong> Chicago<br />

MACS/CCS cohorts reported the use <strong>of</strong> three or more categories <strong>of</strong><br />

NMPDs during the last 6 months <strong>of</strong> 1984, at the simultaneous start <strong>of</strong> the<br />

two studies.<br />

PATTERNS OF SEXUAL RISK BEHAVIOR AS RELATED TO<br />

NMPD USE<br />

Since the original observations that gay/bisexual men participating in<br />

AIDS epidemiology cohort studies who used alcohol <strong>and</strong> NMPDs with<br />

sexual partners were more likely to engage in high-risk sexual activities,<br />

most notably unprotected anal intercourse (UAI), <strong>and</strong> were less likely to<br />

reduce their sexual risk than abstaining men (Stall et al. 1986; Ostrow et<br />

al. 1987), there has been a plethora <strong>of</strong> confirmatory studies. Leigh <strong>and</strong><br />

Stall (1993) have reviewed the published literature in this area; this<br />

section summarizes some <strong>of</strong> the conclusions <strong>of</strong> that comprehensive <strong>and</strong><br />

scholarly review. Leigh <strong>and</strong> Stall’s group studies <strong>of</strong> the relationship<br />

between NMPD use <strong>and</strong> risky sexual behavior into three general<br />

categories.<br />

1. Global association studies examine NMPD use <strong>and</strong> high-risk sexual<br />

behaviors, but these behaviors are not linked temporally. Thus, these<br />

studies are unable to determine whether or not the high-risk sex<br />

occurred in the context <strong>of</strong> NMPD use.<br />

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