Philippine Nurse

Psychiatry scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that a clinical diagnosis of alcohol dependence among young adults is associated with having a high number of sexual partners.

"Some participants in the study reported 50 or 100 partners, and research shows - and common sense tells you that the more sex partners you have, the greater the likelihood that you will meet someone one with an STD, "says first author Patricia Cavazos - Rehg, Ph.D., research instructor in the Department of Psychiatry. "The chances increase as unwanted pregnancies and other complications."

The study, reported in the recent issue of the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, also found links between a disorder diagnosis and conduct of a high number of sexual partners and between the problem of alcohol and more partners. Of the three, however, the dependence on alcohol has the most influence on the number of sexual partners.

alcohol dependency is excessive consumption of alcohol, which is harmful to the physical and mental health. Some people drink alcohol every day. Others may drink only sporadically, but consume large amounts of alcohol when they drink. This type of binge drinking is especially common among adolescents and young adults, like those who were interviewed in this study. Drinkers, conversely, have more of the same symptoms, and can move to become dependent, but they are not dependent on alcohol when the study was conducted.

Conduct disorder is a disorder disruptive, like ADHD and oppositional defiant disorder. Symptoms tend to include truancy from school, setting fires, fighting to maintain or being cruel to people or animals.

those in this study, who were dependent on alcohol, 45 percent reported having more than 10 sexual partners. In addition, 37 percent of those with a diagnosis of conduct disorder had at least 10 partners.

Prior studies have linked excessive alcohol consumption and behavior disorders in high-risk sexual behavior. This study focused specifically on the number of partners, and it sets a high risk using more typically seen in the psychiatric literature.

"To my knowledge, most of the research among young adults used a standard" up to six "sexual partners when considering the risks," said Cavazos - Rehg. "But the average number of partners for the people of this study was 9.26, instead of six or more partners that our high risk, we have increased that number to 10."

Scientists have conducted interviews with 601 people between 18 and 25 years. All were unmarried and alcohol dependent correlation of individuals who participated in the National Study of collaboration genetics of alcoholism (COGA), an ongoing project involving interviews and DNA samples from over 10000 people. The COGA database of people who inpatient and outpatient alcohol treatment centers and their families. Families of the COGA study commonly have several members with alcohol dependence.

"We scored these subjects according to the three levels of involvement - not alcohol dependent, and the problem of alcoholic beverage, and showed how a gradual increase in the non-dependence to alcohol problems addiction to alcohol is linked to an increased number of sexual partners, "said Cavazos - Rehg. "We observed that 22 percent of non-dependent people have more than 10 partners, compared with 31 percent of drinkers and 45 percent of those who are dependent on alcohol. We also found a risk to a high number of sexual partners among the disorder with conduct, regardless of their level of involvement alcohol. And those with both alcohol dependence and conduct disorder were most likely to have a high number of sexual partners. "

Cavazos - Rehg suggests when young people are treated for alcohol problems - therapy patients hospitalized for alcohol dependence for emergency care as a result of related l alcohol car accident, it might be a good idea to see STDs or HIV infection and discuss safe sex practices. The staff of STDs also might want to ask patients about their alcohol consumption and to provide references relating to alcohol treatment centers.

"Perhaps clinicians can work together to address these two problems," she said. "A better understanding of alcohol dependence and conduct disorder could be part of a global strategy to reduce the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies."

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