Physical and sexual abuse appears common among urban Native American women, and the problem may be contributing to their risk of HIV infection, new research suggests.

The study found that more than half of 155 Native American women living in the New York City area said they had ever been physically or sexually abused. A similar number - 58 percent - reported ever having high-risk sex, such as sex with a stranger or having two or more partners in a month.

Researchers found that women with a history of abuse tended to be more likely to have taken such risks.

Because the study was a one-time survey, it’s not possible to say for sure whether the women’s physical and sexual trauma led to their risky sexual behavior, according to study co-author Dr. Karina Walters of the University of Washington in Seattle.

However, she told Reuters Health, “Sexual victimization has been found to be associated with sexual risk behaviors among women in general.”

In this study, women who’d been physically abused by someone other than a partner were more likely than other women to engage in high-risk sex. The same relationship was seen among women who’d been sexually abused, but in this case the link seemed to be explained by higher rates of injection-drug use.

It’s possible, Walters and her colleagues note, that sexually victimized women may have turned to drugs to cope with the trauma, and this in turn led to their sexual risk-taking.

They report the findings in the journal AIDS & Behavior.

The rate of past abuse the researchers found - 52 percent - is quite high, but it is in line with what would be expected in a “population under siege,” Walters said. National data show that Native Americans are the victims of violent crime at a rate 2.5 times the national average, and studies have found high rates of violence against women and sexual abuse of girls.

Women in the current study also reported a rate of HIV infection, 3 percent, that is far higher than the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s estimate for Native American women.

Although this survey of women living in one urban area cannot give an accurate prevalence figure for HIV, Walters noted that the rate it found is in line with estimates from the Indian Health Service, which puts the prevalence of HIV among Native Americans at 1 to 3 percent.

This finding, according to Walter, needs further research and verification.

“Generally,” the researcher said, “American Indians are ignored or left out of the national conversation with respect to HIV risk, and, hopefully, these data will spark national interest in Native women and communities, and highlight how this disease knows no boundaries.”

SOURCE: AIDS & Behavior, March 2004.