INTERRELATIONSHIPS AMONG DOUCHING PRACTICES, RISKY SEXUAL PRACTICES, AND HISTORY OF SELF-REPORTED SEXUALLY-TRANSMITTED DISEASES IN AN URBAN-POPULATION

Goals: To describe the interrelationships of douching, sex during mens es, dry sex, and anal intercourse and their associations with self-rep orted history of sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Study Design: Th e authors interviewed by telephone 422 white Americans (WA) and 44 Afr ican Americans (AA) selected using random-digit dialing, and 135 AA se lected from a listed sample of census tracks having a population of at least 40% AA. Results: After adjusting for lifetime numbers of vagina l sex partners, sex during menses was associated with self-reported hi story of chlamydial infection among women (WA: odds ratio [OR] = 3.9; confidence interval [CI]: 1.1, 14.0; AA: OR = 1.6; CI: 0.6, 4.2), Anal sex was associated with self-reported history of genital warts, genit al herpes, hepatitis, and gonorrhea; douching with a twofold increase in self-reported pelvic inflammatory disease, Anal sex was most common in women with a history of same-and opposite-sex: partners. Conclusio ns: These data confirm the association of douching and anal sex with v arious STD and suggest that sex during menses is associated with chlam ydial infection.