Journal of AIDS & Clinical Research

Partner Violence and Condom Use in HIV-Discordant Heterosexual Partnerships

Abstract

Abigail Eaton, Ariane van Der Straten, Stephen Shiboski, Janet Saul and Nancy Padian

This paper examines the association between intimate partner violence and the consistency of condom use in a US urban cohort of HIV-serodiscordant couples. It uses both male and female data from the California Partners Study II of a lower-income ethnically mixed cohort of 145 such couples in the San Francisco Bay Area. We observed a significant association between inconsistent condom use and physical abuse and forced sex: the risk of inconsistent condom use was double for those experiencing physical abuse (OR, 2.2; 95%CI, 1.1, 4.1). Injection drug use and a history of bisexual behavior were also associated with inconsistent condom use. Physical abuse tended to be reciprocal between partners (OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.9, 5.6). Our findings suggest that interventions effective in reducing intimate partner violence, and/or reducing the use of injection drugs in HIV-serodiscordant couples could lead to less transmission of HIV.