Objective: To estimate the incidence of high-risk sexual behaviors and to explore the related factors among patients receiving methadone maintenance treatment.
Methods: Face to face interviews were conducted on 636 patients at 3 methadone maintenance treatment clinics in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, in China, from September to November, 2014. General demographic characteristics and behavioral factors associated with high-risk sexual behavior of patients were collected through questionnaires. Both univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to analyze the related factors of high-risk sexual behaviors and the interactions between them.
Results: 636 participants were included in this study. Majority of the patients (80.2%) practiced high-risk sexual behaviors in the past three months. Data from the univariate analysis showed that factors as: gender, age, marital status, registered residence, history of hepatitis B (HepB) vaccination, age started drug use and HIV infection etc. might be associated with high-risk sexual behaviors (P<0.05). Data from the multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that factors as: being male, histories with non- or unknown HepB vaccination and free of HIV infection etc., were likely to have high-risk sexual behaviors, with OR (95% CI) as 1.668 (1.021-2.725), 1.730 (1.068-2.801) and 2.880 (1.697-4.888), respectively. Additive interactions were observed between non- or unknown histories of HepB vaccination and free of HIV infection.
Conclusion: The incidence rates on high-risk sexual behaviors appeared high in patients under the methadone maintenance treatment. Patients with factors as: being male, histories with non-or unknown HepB vaccination and free of HIV infection were significantly associated with high-risk sexual behaviors. It is necessary to emphasize on behavioral intervention among patients under the methadone maintenance treatment, in order to reduce the occurrence of high-risk sexual behaviors.