Knowing if partner is faithful predicts STD risk

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Young adults who don’t know whether or not their new partner is having sex with other people appear to at higher risk of sexually transmitted diseases, new research reports.

U.S. investigators found that men and women whose partners were secretly sleeping with other people had a higher risk of Chlamydia trachomatis and Trichomonas vaginalis, two of the most common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).

In addition, people who mistakenly believed their monogamous partners were being unfaithful also appeared to have a higher STD risk, which may simply reflect an absence of “communication, trust, and intimacy” within that relationship, a study author told Reuters Health.

“Lack of knowledge of a partner’s behavior may just be a symptom of a partnership that has not evolved to a point where the partners know each other well enough - or know enough about each other - to assume they know what a partner is doing,” said Dr. Pamina M. Gorbach of the University of California, Los Angeles.

She added that people who knew their partners were not monogamous were more likely to report that they also were not monogamous. These couples were also more likely to report the consistent use condoms than were couples in which only one partner was not monogamous, she noted.

“The real issue is whether or not people are using protection in their partnerships, and if they are making the right choices—by having enough information—about when to stop using protection with a partner,” Gorbach said.

According to previous reports, up to 54 percent of adolescents and 40 percent of adults in the U.S. have been in non-monogamous relationships. Previous research has shown that people with concurrent sexual partners are more at risk of STDs, regardless of their number of lifetime partners.

To investigate whether a partner’s lack of monogamy puts a person at risk of STDs, Gorbach and her colleagues surveyed 96 heterosexual couples between the ages of 18 and 30 who were visiting an STD or family planning clinic. All of the couples started having sex with each other within the past 3 months.

Approximately one third of the study participants said they were sleeping with more than one person. However, only 16 percent said they thought their partners were sleeping with other people.

And among the people whose partners admitted they were sleeping with other people, only one quarter said they knew their partner was not monogamous, the authors report in the journal Sexually Transmitted Diseases.

Overall, 12 percent of the study participants tested positive for either C. trachomatis or T. vaginalis. People whose partners were sleeping with other people were more than three times as likely to have an STD, while people who believed their non-monogamous partner was faithful or believed their faithful partner was not monogamous had between a four- and five-fold higher risk of disease.

“It is important to ask your partner if they have other partners, and to keep using condoms beyond the first few months of your partnership until you have established the communication, trust, and intimacy to be sure you know what your partner is doing,” Gorbach advised.

SOURCE: Sexually Transmitted Diseases, July 2004

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