CLINICAL UNIT BASED RESEARCH
71st Annual Meeting of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence.
Reno/Sparks, Nevada June 20-25, 2009
481 A SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF GENDER DIFFERENCES IN HIV SEXUAL RISK BEHAVIORS AMONG STIMULANT AND OPIOID ABUSERS.
Jennifer S Potter1,2,3, C S Meade2,3, A T Peterson2;
1University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, 2McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, 3Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
Aims: Gender differences have been identified as a potential factor influencing the frequency and pattern of HIV sexual risk behaviors (SRB) among drug involved individuals. This systematic review documents gender differences in the prevalence and correlates of SRB among female and male stimulant and opioid abusers.
Methods: Electronic search of PubMed and PsycInfo databases for papers involving U.S. adults published from 1995 to 2008 yielded 924 articles. 398 were excluded because they presented only qualitative data, contained no original empirical data, or did not meet prespecified search criteria. Manual review of papers by the authors excluded additional papers. Reasons for exclusion included: gender data not provided(n=119)and single sex sample(n=223). This resulted in 34 studies reporting SRB frequencies by gender, and 64 studies reporting multivariate results including gender.
Results: SRB were studied in 30,231 males and 16,741 females. Eleven studies described gender differences as a primary focus of analysis. Study designs were primarily cross-sectional(n=31). Samples were drawn from community settings( n=23), substance abuse treatment programs(n=6), or a combination(n=5). Samples comprised of combined opioid and stimulant users were most common( n=20). Most commonly, SRB were reported as any sexual activity(yes/no), more than one sexual partner(yes/no), any sex trade(yes/no), and any unprotected sex(yes/no). Past 30 days was the most common time interval used to assess SRB. No clear patterns emerged with regard to gender differences.
Conclusions: Most studies examining SRB among opioid and stimulant abusers do not conduct gender analyses. Of those that do report gender differences, there is variability in how SRB is defined and the interval over which it is assessed. This makes it extremely challenging to evaluate whether gender SRB differences are present. Further research using improved methods is needed to examine whether gender differences are important in addressing SRB in substance abusing populations.
Support: DA022297 DA15831 DA022288