Changes in alcohol consumption and in sexually transmitted disease incidence rates in the United States: 1983-1998.

OBJECTIVE

A substantial research literature has documented an association between alcohol consumption and risky sexual behavior at the level of the individual. We explored the association between changes in alcohol consumption and sexually transmitted disease (STD) incidence rates at the level of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia.

METHOD: We used multivariate analyses to examine state-level changes in STD rates (gonorrhea and syphilis) and state-level changes in alcohol consumption, controlling for changes in state-level characteristics (e.g.. poverty, age distribution of population) and for national trends in factors that affect STD rates.

RESULTS

From 1983 to 1998, changes in alcohol consumption were significantly associated with changes in gonorrhea and syphilis rates. Each 1% increase in per capita alcohol consumption was associated with increases of about 0.4% to 0.7% in reported gonorrhea incidence rates and 1.8% to 3.6% in reported syphilis incidence rates.

CONCLUSIONS

The association between alcohol and risky sex, well documented at the level of the individual, might hold at the population level as well.