Heterosexual men are more likely to engage in high-risk sex if they use methamphetamine, or “meth”, according to results of a study conducted in California.

Previous studies have linked meth use, risky sexual behavior and increased incidence of HIV infection among gay men. However, there have been few studies looking at these same issues among straight men, despite the growing burden of HIV among heterosexuals.

Dr. C. S. Krawczyk, from the California Department of Health Services, and colleagues conducted the HEY-Man (Health Evaluation in Young Men) Study involving men between 18 and 35 years of age who reported having female sex partners exclusively during the preceding 6 months.

Between December 2001 and November 2003, staff members interviewed 968 men residing in low-income neighborhoods of five northern California counties.

According to the investigators’ report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 58 men (6.0 percent) reported meth use during the previous 6 months and 93 (10 percent) reported past meth use but not during the preceding 6 months.

Recent users were significantly more likely than men who never used meth to report high-risk behavior in several categories, including anal sex (30 percent vs 12 percent); having a casual or anonymous sex partner (65 percent vs 44 percent), multiple sex partners (57 percent vs 26 percent), having a partner who injected drugs during the preceding 6 months (11 percent vs 2 percent) and ever having received drugs or money for sex (16 percent vs 4 percent).

Overall, condom use was low among the recent, previous and non-users of meth. On average, the men reported 48 acts of vaginal intercourse in the prior 6 months, and on average condoms were used five times.

“States should consider enhancing HIV and STD prevention and treatment programs to included assessment for meth use,” Krawczyk and colleagues recommend,” with referrals to meth treatment, primary meth prevention activities, and substance use treatment programs incorporating STD/HIV screening, testing, and sexual health promotion.”

SOURCE: Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, March 17, 2006.