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  • Title: Differences in sexual behaviour between HIV-infected pregnant women and their husbands in Bangkok, Thailand.
    Author: Bennetts A, Shaffer N, Phophong P, Chaiyakul P, Mock PA, Neeyapun K, Bhadrakom C, Mastro TD.
    Journal: AIDS Care; 1999 Dec; 11(6):649-61. PubMed ID: 10716006.
    Abstract:
    In a Bangkok antenatal clinic, we interviewed 102 HIV-infected pregnant women and their husbands, 30% of whom were HIV-negative. We evaluated these data by matched and unmatched analysis, compared men and women in stable couple relationships on a number of sociodemographic and risk factor indicators and investigated further whether there were any differences in sociodemographic or risk factor profiles between HIV-serodiscordant couples and seroconcordant couples. When compared to wives, more of the husbands were working (p = 0.001), earning more money (p = 0.001), had had more than two sex partners (p = 0.001) and had had syphilis (p = 0.001). Serodiscordant couples did not differ greatly from seroconcordant couples except that women married to HIV-negative men were more likely to have been divorced or separated than their husbands which was not the case for women married to HIV-positive men (p = 0.02). There was poor agreement between husband and wife reports of husband risk behaviour and this did not differ between concordant and discordant couples. These findings suggest that assessment of risk and counselling of Thai women is incomplete without information on the HIV status and risk behaviour of her partner. Prevention strategies to decrease heterosexual transmission among couples need to target both the man and the woman. This study compared the sexual behaviors of HIV-infected pregnant women and their husbands in Bangkok, Thailand. Researchers interviewed a total of 102 HIV-infected pregnant women and their husbands (30% of whom were HIV-negative). Using matched and unmatched analysis, sociodemographic and risk factor indicators among men and women in stable couple relationships were compared. Differences in sociodemographic or risk factor profiles between HIV-serodiscordant couples and seroconcordant couples were also investigated. Results revealed that income discrepancy between husbands and wives was smaller in discordant than in concordant couples, but the difference did not reach significance. Variables such as jobs, income, number of sexual partners, and presence of syphilis were noted to be much higher among husbands than wives. Men, regardless of HIV status, had consistently higher levels of risk behavior than their female partners. Moreover, women partnered with HIV-negative men, unlike women partnered with HIV-positive men, were infected outside the current relationship. Divorce or separation from a previous husband, younger age at first sex, and a higher number of sexual partners on the part of the wife were predictive of her husband being seronegative. The findings confirm the existence of a gender dichotomy in sexual behavior in Thailand, which is characterized by frequent partner change in males and female monogamy.
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