Illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes: Findings from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).

<h4>Objectives</h4>We explore the hypothesis that using illicit drugs other than, or in addition to, cannabis is associated with sexual risk behaviour and sexual health outcomes in the British population.<h4>Methods</h4>We analysed data, separately by gender, reported by sexu...

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Main Authors: Rachelle Paquette, Clare Tanton, Fiona Burns, Philip Prah, Maryam Shahmanesh, Nigel Field, Wendy Macdowall, Kirsten Gravningen, Pam Sonnenberg, Catherine H Mercer
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2017-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177922&type=printable
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author Rachelle Paquette
Clare Tanton
Fiona Burns
Philip Prah
Maryam Shahmanesh
Nigel Field
Wendy Macdowall
Kirsten Gravningen
Pam Sonnenberg
Catherine H Mercer
author_facet Rachelle Paquette
Clare Tanton
Fiona Burns
Philip Prah
Maryam Shahmanesh
Nigel Field
Wendy Macdowall
Kirsten Gravningen
Pam Sonnenberg
Catherine H Mercer
author_sort Rachelle Paquette
collection DOAJ
description <h4>Objectives</h4>We explore the hypothesis that using illicit drugs other than, or in addition to, cannabis is associated with sexual risk behaviour and sexual health outcomes in the British population.<h4>Methods</h4>We analysed data, separately by gender, reported by sexually-active participants (those reporting > = 1 partners/past year) aged 16-44 years (3,395 men, 4,980 women) in Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3), a probability survey undertaken 2010-12 involving computer-assisted personal-interview and computer-assisted self-interview. Analyses accounted for the stratification, clustering and weighting of the data. Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios.<h4>Results</h4>Use of illicit drugs other than, or in addition to, cannabis in the past year was reported by 11.5% (95%CI:10.4%-12.8%) of men and 5.5% (4.8%-6.3%) of women. Use of these types of drugs was more common among those <35 years, those who reported poor general and/or sexual health behaviours, e.g. binge drinking > = weekly (age-adjusted ORs, aAORs, 10.91 (6.27-18.97) men; 9.95 (6.11-16.19) women); having > = 2 condomless partners in the past year (aAOR:5.50 (3.61-8.39) men; 5.24 (3.07-8.94) women). Participants reporting illicit drug use were more likely (than those who did not) to report sexual health clinic attendance (ORs after adjusting for age, sexual identity and partner numbers: 1.79 (1.28-2.51) men; 1.99 (1.34-2.95) women), chlamydia testing (1.42 (1.06-1.92) men; 1.94 (1.40-2.70) women), unplanned pregnancy (2.93 (1.39-6.17) women), and among men only, sexually transmitted infection diagnoses (3.10 (1.63-5.89)).<h4>Conclusions</h4>In Britain, those reporting recent illicit drug use were more likely to report other markers of poor general and sexual health. They were also more likely to attend sexual health clinics so these should be considered appropriate settings to implement holistic interventions to maximise health gain.
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spelling doaj-art-42e9eda921044856933ca94b14a2d23d2025-08-20T02:03:12ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032017-01-01125e017792210.1371/journal.pone.0177922Illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes: Findings from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).Rachelle PaquetteClare TantonFiona BurnsPhilip PrahMaryam ShahmaneshNigel FieldWendy MacdowallKirsten GravningenPam SonnenbergCatherine H Mercer<h4>Objectives</h4>We explore the hypothesis that using illicit drugs other than, or in addition to, cannabis is associated with sexual risk behaviour and sexual health outcomes in the British population.<h4>Methods</h4>We analysed data, separately by gender, reported by sexually-active participants (those reporting > = 1 partners/past year) aged 16-44 years (3,395 men, 4,980 women) in Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3), a probability survey undertaken 2010-12 involving computer-assisted personal-interview and computer-assisted self-interview. Analyses accounted for the stratification, clustering and weighting of the data. Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate adjusted odds ratios.<h4>Results</h4>Use of illicit drugs other than, or in addition to, cannabis in the past year was reported by 11.5% (95%CI:10.4%-12.8%) of men and 5.5% (4.8%-6.3%) of women. Use of these types of drugs was more common among those <35 years, those who reported poor general and/or sexual health behaviours, e.g. binge drinking > = weekly (age-adjusted ORs, aAORs, 10.91 (6.27-18.97) men; 9.95 (6.11-16.19) women); having > = 2 condomless partners in the past year (aAOR:5.50 (3.61-8.39) men; 5.24 (3.07-8.94) women). Participants reporting illicit drug use were more likely (than those who did not) to report sexual health clinic attendance (ORs after adjusting for age, sexual identity and partner numbers: 1.79 (1.28-2.51) men; 1.99 (1.34-2.95) women), chlamydia testing (1.42 (1.06-1.92) men; 1.94 (1.40-2.70) women), unplanned pregnancy (2.93 (1.39-6.17) women), and among men only, sexually transmitted infection diagnoses (3.10 (1.63-5.89)).<h4>Conclusions</h4>In Britain, those reporting recent illicit drug use were more likely to report other markers of poor general and sexual health. They were also more likely to attend sexual health clinics so these should be considered appropriate settings to implement holistic interventions to maximise health gain.https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177922&type=printable
spellingShingle Rachelle Paquette
Clare Tanton
Fiona Burns
Philip Prah
Maryam Shahmanesh
Nigel Field
Wendy Macdowall
Kirsten Gravningen
Pam Sonnenberg
Catherine H Mercer
Illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes: Findings from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).
PLoS ONE
title Illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes: Findings from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).
title_full Illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes: Findings from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).
title_fullStr Illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes: Findings from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).
title_full_unstemmed Illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes: Findings from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).
title_short Illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes: Findings from Britain's third National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal-3).
title_sort illicit drug use and its association with key sexual risk behaviours and outcomes findings from britain s third national survey of sexual attitudes and lifestyles natsal 3
url https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0177922&type=printable
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