Teenagers with HIV are engaging in riskier sex with more partners than their counterparts before the advent of powerful new treatments for the AIDS virus, a new U.S. report suggests.
The study, conducted by researchers at the UCLA AIDS Institute, surveyed the habits to two groups of teenagers during two periods, one before the introduction of highly-active, antiretroviral therapies – so-called AIDS drug “cocktails” – and the other after.
Those in the post-HART group were nearly twice as likely to have had unprotected sex in the past three months. As well, they had almost double the number of sexual partners as those in the other group and were also more likely to have had sex with someone who used injection drugs, according to the findings.
Although the study does not draw a direct link between the advent of new HIV treatments and riskier sexual behaviour, it does suggest “the need for continued attention to the issue of sexual risk and the impact of HAART,” lead researcher Marguerita Lightfoot said.
So-called AIDS cocktail treatments were introduced in 1996 and have been successful in lowering virus levels and prolonging the lives of those with the HIV.
According to statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about one-quarter of the 40,000 new HIV infections reported in the United States each year occur in people under 21.
Recent studies have suggested a link between riskier behaviour in adults alongside the rise of HIV treatments, although few have looked at the behaviour of teenagers with HIV.
Monday's study, published in the American Journal of Health Behavior, looked at the behaviour of 349 teens living in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Miami between 1994 and 1996.
The second – which used different teens but maintained the group's characteristics in terms of sex, race and socioeconomic background – was made up of 175 youths and covered the period from 1999 to 2000.
Those in the post-HAART group, the study found, also knew of their HIV diagnosis at an earlier age but were in worse health than those in the other study group.
“Given the availability of HAART, it is surprising that the post-HAART youth experienced more symptoms,” Ms. Lightfoot said in Monday's report.
“This suggests that although they are being identified as HIV-positive at a younger age, these youths are being identified later in the progression of the disease.”
In the second group, only about 53 per cent were on HAART drug therapy. Ms. Lightfoot said part of the reason could be that physicians might be reluctant to prescribe anti-retroviral drugs to some subpopulations of youths, such as those with substance-abuse problems, because of concerns that they would not stick to the treatment regimen.
