Maintenance of safe sex behavior by HIV-serodiscordant heterosexual couples

We present findings from a prospective study of heterosexual HIV transmissi on in stable New Jersey couples who are serodiscordant for HIV and in which the uninfected partner is at risk solely from heterosexual contact. One hu ndred thirty-one couples were interviewed at enrollment and 6-month follow- up. This report describes couples' sexual behavior before and after knowled ge of infective risk and examines associations of behavior with clinical an d demographic characteristics. We observed that HIV serodiscordant couples' habitual sexual practices, drug and alcohol use, and measure of psychologi cal distress may predict difficulty in adopting and maintaining safe sex. A n understanding of common risky sexual behavior patterns and characteristic correlates of risk taking may prove useful for counseling individuals at r isk and their infected partners and may contribute to the development of ef fective public health messages targeted to eliminate unsafe sexual contact.