Female Binge-drinking Linked to Unsafe Sexual Behaviours

Binge drinking, consumption of five or more alcoholic drinks in a row on a single occasion, is associated with risky sexual behavior in women, a new study has found. Female binge drinkers are more likely to indulge in unsafe sexual practices, and contract sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), the study suggests.

Researchers at John Hopkins University medical school in Baltimore found that women, who drink more than five alcoholic beverages at one sitting, are at increased risk of having unsafe sexual activities, like multiple partners and anal sex, and so are at an increased risk of having sexually transmitted diseases, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis.

"Binge drinking results in a decreased ability to make clear decisions and can enable individuals to engage in behaviours that they would not if sober,” said Geetanjali Chander, assistant professor of medicine in the division of general internal medicine at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

“Initially, some individuals may drink with the expectation of decreasing inhibitions, or some may drink because they are anxious, or depressed, and they expect alcohol to alleviate their symptoms,” she added. “Regardless of why they choose to drink, many people do not perceive the potential risk or harm that may result from binge drinking,".

To reach their findings, the researchers’ team first approached 795 STDdefine-clinic patients who were being evaluated or treated at the urban clinic between July 2000 and August 2001 for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and asked them whether they would be interested in being interviewed.

Of those approached, 671 agreed to participate in the study. The respondents included 322 men and 349 women (95% African American, 83% heterosexual) who answered questions about their recent alcohol and drug use and risky sexual behaviours using audio computer assisted self interview technology.

The researchers then analyzed the association between binge drinking and sexual behaviors and sexually transmitted infections. After adjusting for age, employment, and drug use, they found that binge drinking among women was linked to unsafe sexual practices.

"We found that binge drinking among women STD-clinic patients is associated with certain risky sexual behaviors," said Heidi E. Hutton, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine as well as corresponding author for the study.

"Across gender, women binge drinkers are more likely to have anal sex than men binge drinkers. Within gender, women binge drinkers are three times as likely to have anal sex, and twice as likely to have multiple sex partners compared to women who do not drink alcohol,” she added.

In addition, women binge drinkers were also five times as likely to have gonorrhea, a disease caused by sexually transmitted bacteria, compared to non-drinking women.

Gonorrhea is the second most commonly sexually-transmitted disease. It is caused by Neisseria gonorrhoeae, a bacterium that can grow and multiply easily in the warm, moist areas of the reproductive tract, including the cervix, uterusdefine, and fallopian tubesdefine in women, and in the urethradefine in women and men, it infects over 700,000 people in the United States annually.

The disease affects people of all age, race, socioeconomic level but the highest rates of infection are among sexually active teens, young adults and African-American. In the early stages of gonorrheal infection, over half of infected women have no symptoms. If symptoms do occur, there may be burning on urination, frequent urination, yellowish vaginal discharge, redness of the genitals, swelling of the genitals, and a burning or itching of the vaginal area.

The individuals with multiple sexual partners and who use no barrier contraception, such as condoms, are most at-risk for developing gonorrhea.

Findings of the recent study will be published in the November issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.