Risky behavior in women with history of casual travel sex.

OBJECTIVES: To define epidemiologic and psychosocial characteristics in women with a history of casual travel sex abroad. STUDY DESIGN: The participants consisted of 996 women attending for contraceptive advice, of whom 276 admitted that they had experience of casual travel sex. The remaining women served as a comparison group. In structured interviews, questions were asked about educational level, partnerships, reproductive history, contraceptive and drug use, smoking, and psychosocial factors such as wariness, success, and attractiveness. RESULTS: The women with experience of casual travel sex were more often single, had more often experienced broken relationships, were more often smokers, and used alcohol or cannabis at a higher-frequency. Their educational level was higher and a history of induced abortions was more common. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study indicate that women with experience of casual travel sex not only take sexual risks, but take other risks that might impose danger to their health.

PIP: The aim of this study was to define epidemiologic and psychosocial characteristics of women with a history of casual travel sex abroad. The participants were 996 women seeking contraceptive advice, of whom 276 admitted that they had experienced casual travel sex. The remaining women served as a comparison group. In structured interviews, questions were asked about educational level, partnerships, reproductive history, contraceptive and drug use, smoking, and psychosocial factors such as wariness, success, and attractiveness. The women who had experienced casual travel sex were more often single, had more often experienced broken relationships, were more often smokers, and used alcohol or cannabis at a higher frequency. Their educational level was higher and a history of induced abortions was more common. The results of this study indicate that women with experience of casual travel sex not only take sexual risks but also take other risks that might represent a danger to their health.

Sexually Transmitted Diseases and Reproductive History in Women with Experience of Casual Travel Sex Abroad.

Background: The objective of this study was to determine whether the frequency of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and some reproductive events in women with experience of casual travel sex (CTS) abroad with previously unknown male partners differed when compared to women lacking such experience. Methods: Nine hundred and ninety-six women seeking contraceptive advice from two family planning clinics and a youth clinic were studied. Two hundred and seventy-six of these women (27.7%) admitted experience of CTS. Results: Among current STDs, only the prevalence of cervical human papilloma virus infection was significantly higher in women with a history of CTS when compared to the comparison (COMP) group (11.2% vs. 0.7%). A history of gonorrhea, genital chlamydial infection, and genital warts was reported significantly more often in women with, rather than without, CTS (p=0-.005). Women who had experienced CTS had a lower rate of childbirth, but higher rates of legal abortion and pelvic inflammatory disease than did females in the COMP group. Conclusion: The study shows that women with experience of CTS belong to a group at high risk for acquisition of STDs. This increased risk, with the exception of genital warts, was attributed to sexual risk taking in general, not merely to traveling abroad.

Sexual risk behavior and history of sexually transmitted diseases in relation to casual travel sex during different types of journeys.

OBJECTIVES: The study investigated if women with experience of casual travel sex, with a previously unknown man abroad, on different types of journeys (charter, vagabond, business and education trips), differ with regard to sexual risk behavior and history of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). STUDY DESIGN: The study population consisted of 996 women. Of these, 27.7% admitted that they had had casual sex during journeys. The remaining women were used as a comparison group. History of STDs and sexual risk behaviors were investigated. RESULTS: The frequency of women who had more than ten lifetime sexual partners were greatly increased in all groups, as compared to the controls. A history of gonorrhea was most frequent among the charter travellers. A history of genital chlamydial infection was most common among the vagabond travellers. The lowest frequencies of a history of STDs was observed in women engaging in casual sex on 'business' journeys and they had significantly less often a history of STDs as compared to the charter travellers. A high frequency of STDs were seen in women who had experience of casual sex on different types of journeys. CONCLUSION: Women on business trips, although they had a similar sexual risk behaviour as the other groups of travellers, had less often a history of STDs.

Sexually transmitted diseases in Swedish women with experience of casual sex with men of foreign nationalities within Sweden.

BACKGROUND: This study was performed in women who had attended the clinic for contraceptive advice to determine whether a history of casual sex with a foreign male, previously unknown to them (SFM) in their home country (Sweden), constituted an increased risk for acquiring sexually transmitted diseases (STD) as compared to women without such an experience (COMP). METHODS: Of 996 women enrolled, and who were subjected to a structured deep-interview performed by midwives, 595 (59.7%) stated that they had experienced casual sex within Sweden with for them a previously unknown Swedish male (SSM). RESULTS: A history of SFM was reported by 120 (12.0%) women. A history of chlamydial infection (26.0%) and gonorrhea (13.0%) were more common in the SFM women than in either the COMP (16.0% and 3.0%) or the SSM (19.0% and 4.0%) groups. Genital warts (8.0%) and bacterial vaginosis (23.0%) were found more often in the SFM group as compared to both the COMP (3.0% and 12.0%) and the SSM (4.0% and 13.0%) group. Women in the SFM group more often had a current genital chlamydial infection (13.0%) than those in the COMP group (8.0%). When adjustment was made for markers of sexual risk taking, only genital warts remained significantly (p = 0.05) associated with SFM as compared to both SSM and COMP. CONCLUSIONS: To conclude, the study shows that women with experience of SFM had, more often, a history of one or more STDs and were more often carriers of STD agents than those lacking experience of SFM and/or SSM. However, there was no such difference when comparing the SFM and SSM women when making adjustments for sexual risk behavior. Thus a sexual risky lifestyle is more important than the origin of the sex partner for acquiring STDs with possible exception of HIV/AIDS in the society studied.