SEXUAL ETHICS - DISCLOSURE OF HIV-POSITIVE STATUS TO PARTNERS

Objective: To determine factors associated with disclosure of human im munodeficiency virus (HIV)-positive status to sexual partners. Methods : We interviewed 203 consecutive patients presenting for primary care for HIV at 2 urban hospitals. One hundred twenty-nine reported having sexual partners during the previous 6 months. The primary outcome of i nterest was whether patients had told all the sexual partners they had been with over the past 6 months that they were HIV positive. We anal yzed the relationships between sociodemographic, alcohol and drug use, social support, sexual practice, and clinical variables; and whether patients had told their partners that they were HIV positive was analy zed by using multiple logistic regression. Results: Study patients wer e black (46%), Latino (23%), white (27%), and the majority were men (6 9%). Regarding risk of transmission, 41% were injection drug users, 20 % were homosexual or bisexual men, and 39% were heterosexually infecte d. Sixty percent had disclosed their HIV status to all sexual partners . Of the 40% who had not disclosed, half had not disclosed to their on e and only partner. Among patients who did not disclose, 57% used cond oms less than all the time. In multiple logistic regression analysis, the odds that an individual with 1 sexual partner disclosed was 3.2 ti mes the odds that a person with multiple sexual partners disclosed. Th e odds that an individual with high spousal support disclosed was 2.8 times the adds of individuals without high support, and the odds that whites or Latinos disclosed was 3.1 times the odds that blacks disclos ed. Conclusion: Many HIV-infected individuals do not disclose their st atus to sexual partners. Nondisclosers are not more likely to regularl y use condoms than disclosers. Sexual partners of HIV-infected persons continue to be at risk for HIV transmission.