Prevalence of sexually risky behaviors among Mexican medical students

• Published in: PloS one 2024-05, Vol.19 (5), p.e0302570-e0302570
• Main Authors: Garcia-Romo, Gina Stella, Pozo-Molina, Glustein, Reyes-Reali, Julia, Mendez-Catala, Claudia Fabiola, Garrido, Efrain, Mendez-Cruz, Adolfo Rene, Alanis-Lopez, Patricia, Mendoza-Ramos, Maria Isabel, Nieto-Yañez, Oscar, Rivera-Yañez, Nelly, Pedroza-Gonzalez, Alexander
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Age; Anal sex; Analysis; Biology and Life Sciences; College students; Colleges & universities; Condoms; Cross-Sectional Studies; Education; Female; Females; Health aspects; Heterosexuality; Human papillomavirus; Humans; Junior high school students; Male; Medical colleges; Medical students; Medicine and Health Sciences; Mexico - epidemiology; People and places; Population; Prevalence; Psychological research; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Research and Analysis Methods; Risk factors; Risk taking; Risk-taking (Psychology); Sex; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data; Sexual partners; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - epidemiology; Social Sciences; Software; Statistical analysis; Statistics; STD; Students; Students, Medical - psychology; Students, Medical - statistics & numerical data; Surveys; Surveys and Questionnaires; University students; Unsafe Sex - statistics & numerical data; Vagina; Womens health; Young Adult; Young adults
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0302570

University students are at high risk of sexually transmitted infections due to the lack of adequate sexual education, as well as multiple associated factors, which lead to risky sexual practices. It is important to update data about sexual behaviors to identify the main factors associated with sexually risky behaviors. The present study aimed to evaluate the current prevalence of sexually risky practices in medical students. A cross-sectional study was conducted among medical students through an anonymous self-administered online questionnaire including demographic characteristics and sexual behaviors. We used descriptive statistics and multivariable regression to analyze the data collected. A total of 1520 undergraduate medical students aged between 18 and 28 years old were included in the study. Sixty percent of the students were sexually active with a higher proportion in men (70%), likewise, they had an earlier sexual debut (16.5 vs 16.9 years old), and a greater number of lifetime sexual partners than women (3.8 vs 2.2). The main sexual activity in both groups was vaginal sex with high use of condoms (75%), however, most of them (67%) reported having unprotected oral sex. Logistic regression analysis showed that condomless sex was associated with having oral sex, anal sex, and being female. The findings of this study showed that medical university students are involved in risky sexual behaviors, the major risk factor was unprotected oral sex. Based on these results, we recommended designing interventions to improve sexual education and preventive approaches from early stages such as in middle school students to mitigate sexually transmitted infections among medical university students.