Powder and Crack Cocaine Use as a Determinant of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) Occurrence among US Juvenile Offenders

Abstract

The prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among adolescents is a major concern across the globe, in particular in the United States (U.S.), and A common indicator of risk in documented in the literature for STIs is substance use. Method: Participants were 2260 juvenile offenders in the state of Georgia. Significance tests were conducted using univariate logistic regressions to examine the independent associations of participant’s self-reported crack and powder cocaine use and dichotomized HIV risk behaviour correlates and history of having a prior STI before the most recent incarceration. Results: With respect to specific STI occurrence, participants who reported powder cocaine use were more likely to have reported having been told they had genital warts (OR=1.33, 95% CI=0.58-3.02), Chlamydia (OR=1.27, 95% CI=0.83-1.95), Syphilis (OR=1.33, 95% CI=0.58-3.02) and Trich (OR=1.39, 95% CI=0.82-2.38). Participants who reported past Crack use were three times more likely to having been told they had Syphilis prior (OR=3.39, 95% CI=0.49-23.41). Participants who reported using crack were three and two time to indicate that had been informed prior that they had Herpes (OR=3.04, 95% CI=0.44-2.1.16) and Trich (OR=2.32, 95% CI=0.73-7.41) accordingly. Conclusion: Even across racial/ethnic groups, gender, and geographic locations, several determinants of adolescents' sexual risk taking were identified. Of importance, is the need for STI risk reduction interventions to consider using more measures of overall reproductive health, especially for female juvenile offenders.