Correlates of sexually transmitted infections in young Australian women

Abstract

The study examined correlates of three common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among Australian women. The sample comprised 9582 women aged 22–27 years who took part in the second postal survey in 2000, of the young cohort of the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women's Health. Self-reported rates of diagnosis in past four years were: chlamydia 1.47%( n = 141), genital herpes 1.75% ( n = 168), and genital warts 3.45% ( n = 331). Multivariate analyses revealed that the odds of all three STIs increased with number of male sexual partners and illicit drug use. Younger and rural women had higher odds of being diagnosed with chlamydia. The odds of both genital herpes and genital warts were higher with longer oral contraceptive pill use and higher stress, while women who had experienced violence were found to have higher odds of herpes. The identification of factors associated with common STIs among young Australian women will inform better-targeted health promotion and disease prevention programmes.