Incarceration, Sex With an STI- or HIV-Infected Partner, and Infection With an STI or HIV in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY: A Social Network Perspective

• Published in: American journal of public health (1971) 2011-06, Vol.101 (6), p.1110-1117
• Main Authors: KHAN, Marina R, EPPERSON, Matthew W, MATEU-GELABERT, Pedro, BOLYARD, Melissa, SANDOVAL, Milagros, FRIEDMAN, Samuel R
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Behavior; Biological and medical sciences; Chlamydia; Condoms; Disease transmission; Drug use; Epidemiology. Vaccinations; Female; General aspects; Gonorrhea; Health care access; Herpes viruses; HIV; HIV Infections - transmission; Human immunodeficiency virus; Human viral diseases; Humans; Hypotheses; Imprisonment; Infections; Infectious diseases; Influence; Laboratories; Male; Medical sciences; Medical tests; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous; New York City; Population; Prevention programs; Prisoners; Prisoners - psychology; Prisoners - statistics & numerical data; Prisons; Public health; Public health. Hygiene; Public health. Hygiene-occupational medicine; Research and Practice; Risk-Taking; Sexual behavior; Sexual Behavior - statistics & numerical data; Sexual Partners; Sexually transmitted diseases; Sexually Transmitted Diseases - transmission; Social networks; Social Support; STD; Studies; Syphilis; Time Factors; Urine; Viral diseases; Viral diseases of the lymphoid tissue and the blood. Aids; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0090-0036; 1541-0048
• DOI: 10.2105/AJPH.2009.184721

We examined the link between incarceration and sexually transmitted infection (STI), including HIV, from a social network perspective. We used data collected during a social network study conducted in Brooklyn, NY (n = 343), to measure associations between incarceration and infection with herpes simplex virus-2, chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis or HIV and sex with an infected partner, adjusting for characteristics of respondents and their sex partners. Infection with an STI or HIV was associated with incarceration of less than 1 year (adjusted prevalence ratio [PR] = 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.01, 1.76) and 1 year or longer (adjusted PR = 1.37; 95% CI = 1.08, 1.74). Sex in the past 3 months with an infected partner was associated with sex in the past 3 months with 1 partner (adjusted PR = 1.42; 95% CI = 1.12, 1.79) and with 2 or more partners (adjusted PR = 1.85; 95% CI = 1.43, 2.38) who had ever been incarcerated. The results highlight the need for STI and HIV treatment and prevention for current and former prisoners and provide preliminary evidence to suggest that incarceration may influence STI and HIV, possibly because incarceration increases the risk of sex with infected partners.