Context: Each year, an estimated 15 million new cases of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV, occur in the United States. Women are not only at a disadvantage because of their biological and social susceptibility, but also because of the methods that are available for prevention.
Methods: A nationally representative sample of 1,000 women aged 18-44 in the continental United States who had had sex with a man in the last 12 months were interviewed by telephone. Analyses identified levels and predictors of women's worry about STDs and interest in vaginal microbicides, as well as their preferences regarding method characteristics. Numbers of potential U.S. microbicide users were estimated.
Results: An estimated 21.3 million U.S. women have some potential current interest in using a microbicidal product. Depending upon product specifications and cost, as many as 6.0 million women who are worried about getting an STD would be very interested in current use of a microbicide. These women are most likely to be unmarried and not cohabiting, of low income and less education, and black or Hispanic. They also are more likely to have visited a doctor for STD symptoms or to have reduced their sexual activity because of STDs, to have a partner who had had other partners in the past year, to have no steady partner or to have ever used condoms for STD prevention.
Conclusions: A significant minority of women in the United States are worried about STDs and think they would use vaginal microbicides. The development, testing and marketing of such products should be expedited.
PIP: Research is underway to develop safe, effective microbicides that women can use vaginally to prevent sexually transmitted disease (STD) transmission. To estimate potential interest in microbicide use, interviews were conducted in 1998 with a nationally representative sample of 1000 sexually active US women 18-44 years of age. 20% of these women had either had an STD in the past or thought they might be infected. 93% of respondents indicated they would be interested in using a vaginal microbicide if they found themselves in a situation where they were at risk of STD transmission and 40% expressed current interest in such a product. Women who were not in a union were almost 3 times as likely as cohabiting women and 12 times as likely as married women to be both worried about contracting an STD and very interested in using a vaginal microbicide. Women who were 25-34 years of age, had a family income under US$20,000, did not have a college education, and were Black or Hispanic also were significantly more likely to express worry about their STD risk and interest in the product. The strongest independent predictor of whether a woman was worried about STDs and very interested in using a microbicide was whether she and her partner were already using condoms for STD prevention (odds ratio, 8.8). Two-thirds of respondents preferred a product that could be applied several hours before intercourse and was available without a prescription. 84% said they would use microbicide along with condoms rather than as a substitute for them. The findings of this survey suggest an estimated 12.6 million US women 15-44 years of age would be interested in current use of a microbicide. More than 7 million of these women would remain interested even if the product protected only against HIV, was just 70-80% effective, and cost $2 per application. Given this level of interest, the development, testing, and marketing of such products should be expedited.