Condom use by women recently diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection: effects of study methodology on the apparent influence of hormonal/surgical contraception.

OBJECTIVE/GOAL: The objective of this study was to investigate potential predictors of consistent condom use (CCU), including the influence of hormonal contraception/surgical sterilization (HC/SS).

STUDY: Regression methods were used to predict CCU and other measures of CU among 214 sexually active, 18- to 45-year-old women previously diagnosed with a sexually transmitted infection.

RESULTS

CCU was significantly associated with younger age, African American ethnicity, having casual partners, recent HIV testing, condom use self-efficacy, and concern about partner relationship. HC/SS was not significantly associated with the likelihood of CCU, before (HC/SS, 21.3%, non-HC/SS, 25.3%; odds ratio [OR], 0.798; P=0.4914) or after (OR, 1.209; P=0.5995) controlling for confounders (age, ethnicity, casual partners). Controlling for age and ethnicity eliminated initial significant or near-significant inverse associations between HC/SS and 3 alternative measures of interval condom use ("any use," "number of unprotected acts," "proportion condom-protected contacts") and substantially diminished the association between HC/SS and "condom use at last sex."

CONCLUSIONS

Choice of condom use measure and control of confounding variables can substantially affect results when studying potential predictors of condom use such as HC/SS.