American Journal of Epidemiology Vol. 112, No. 6: 836-843
Copyright © 1980 by The Johns Hopkins University School of Hygiene and Public Health
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COMPARATIVE PREVALENCE RATES OF SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES IN HETEROSEXUAL AND HOMOSEXUAL MEN1
2 Denver Public Health Department, and Departments of Medicine and Preventive Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
3 Denver Disease Control Service
4 Colorado Department of Health
2Reprint requests to Dr. Judson, Disease Control Service, 605 Bannock St., Denver, CO 80204
This study compared prevalence rates of most common sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in heterosexual and homosexual men who made respectively 12,201 and 5324 visits to an STD clinic over 18 months. Overall, homosexual men were significantly (p < 0.001) more likely than heterosexual men to have gonorrhea (30.31% vs. 19.83 %), early syphilis (1.08% vs. 0.34%) and anal warts (2.90% vs. 0.26%) but less likely to have nongonococcal urethritis (NGU) (14.63% vs. 36.40%, p < 0.001), herpes genitalis (0.93% vs. 3.65%, p < 0.001), pediculosis pubis (4.30% vs. 5.35%, p < 0.005), scabies (0.42% vs. 0.76%, p < 0.02), and genital warts (1.68% vs. 6.69%, p < 0.001). In most cases the differences in rates remained significant (p < 0.05) when corrected for age and race. It is speculated that higher rates of gonorrhea and syphilis result from a larger mean number of sexual contacts, more potential sites of infection, and more hidden and asymptomatic disease, while the lower rates of the other STD result from a lesser susceptibility of anal mucosa to the causative agent(s) of NGU, herpes genitalis, and venereal warts or from a lack of pubic apposition (pediculosis pubis).
homosexuality; prevalence studies; venereal diseases
1Denver Metro Health Clinic, Disease Control Service, Denver Department of Health and Hospitals, and the Departments of Medicine and Preventive Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center
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