Heavy Drinking, Conduct Disorder Linked To High-risk Sexual Behavior
ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2007) — Previous studies have linked heavy drinking and conduct disorder to high-risk sexual behaviors that can, in turn, lead to unintended pregnancies, infection, and damage to reproductive health. A new study has linked the clinical diagnoses of alcohol dependence and conduct disorder among 18-to-25-year-olds to the risk of having a high number of sexual partners.
"Our study is the first of its kind to link problematic drinking and alcohol dependence with a high number of sex partners," said Patricia A. Cavazos-Rehg, research instructor in the Department of Psychiatry at Washington University School of Medicine and corresponding author for the study. "We have moved beyond self-reports of heavy and/or frequent drinking to utilizing a clinical diagnosis of alcohol dependence in order to improve understanding of how alcohol use influences risky sexual behaviors."
"The relationship between risky sexual behavior and conduct disorder has been well documented, especially among young women," added Denise Hallfors, senior research scientist at the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation. "What was not known was whether alcohol dependence and conduct disorder independently contribute to the number of sexual partners. Previous studies tended to look at either alcohol dependence and conduct disorder, or conduct disorder and sexual risk, or heavy drinking and sexual risk, but not at all three behaviors together."
Researchers gathered data through personal interviews from 601 unmarried relatives, 18 to 25 years of age, of alcohol-dependent individuals who participated in the Collaborative Study on The Genetics of Alcoholism. Variables examined included: problem drinking, alcohol dependence, conduct problems, conduct disorder, family status, educational attainment, gender, race, age at first intercourse, age at time of interview, and number of sexual partners.
"A significant number of participants with alcohol dependence, 45 percent, had 10 or more sexual partners," said Cavazos-Rehg. "Moreover, we categorized individuals into three levels of alcohol involvement -- non-dependent, problem drinking, alcohol dependent -- and demonstrated how a stepwise increase from non-dependence to problematic alcohol use to alcohol dependence was associated with a higher rate of sexual partners. We also found a risk for high number of sexual partners among persons with conduct disorder independent of level of alcohol involvement. In addition, individuals with co-occurring alcohol dependence and conduct disorder are at even greater risk of multiple sex partnerships."
"These young adults with alcohol dependence and conduct problems are likely to have many sexual partners," said Hallfors. "This suggests that they are not only at greater risk for STDs and HIV, but if infected, they are likely to infect many others."
Hallfors suggested that college campuses help address this problem. "Students are frequently referred to the campus health clinic for alcohol-related problems," she said. "Young adults who are running into problems because of their heavy drinking and who present for treatment should be screened for sexually transmitted diseases and treated if infected. Furthermore, college health care staff could greatly improve care by asking about sexual risk behaviors and screening for STDs”
Headline of the day
Ex-Surfing Champ Defends Trip to Phillipines to Buy Kidney From Live Donor (AP)
Canadians once again point out the obvious in an effort to sell helmets
Acrobatics among snowboarders up injuries
TORONTO, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The increased jumping and acrobatics of snowboarders and skiers may account for an increase in head injuries in the last 15 years, a Canadian review found.
Researchers at Toronto's University Health Network analyzed published research on injuries -- particularly for serious brain and spinal cord injuries -- sustained by mountain skiers and snowboarders from 1990 to the end of 2004.
The research suggests the rate of this type of serious injury has steadily risen in all the countries reporting data and has coincided with the faster speed and inclusion of more jumping and acrobatics in these sports.
For example, one study indicated the percentage of head injuries among skiers increased from 12 percent in 1993 to 15 percent in 1997 while the number among snowboarders quintupled in the same period. Another study suggests skiers and snowboarders under age 35 are more than three times as likely to have a brain injury.
However, the review published in the journal Injury Prevention, also found wearing helmets cut the risk of serious brain injuries between 22 percent and 60 percent.
Other headline of the day
Hearing impaired man tased by police after getting out of bathtub...(the Drudge Report)
Those Yale boys offer the dream of exercise without all that icky sweat
Exercise pill hope for depression
The natural "high" produced by exercise could one day be available in a pill that targets a gene in our brains.
The Yale University experts say that experiments on mice could show why regular exercise can help people suffering from depression.
Writing in the journal Nature Medicine, they say it could lead to more effective drugs.
Mental Health charities in the UK already back exercise programmes as a way of lifting depression.
While the link between exercise and improved mood is well known, the reasons behind it are not fully understood.
The latest research focuses on an area of the brain called the hippocampus, which is already established as a target for antidepressant drugs.
The team developed a test to see which genes in this region were made more active during exercise, and highlighted one called VGF.
This gene is linked to a "growth factor" chemical involved in the development of nerve cells.
This fitted with their theory that, for depression to lift, changes in the actual structure and links between brain cells are needed, not just changes in the chemicals surrounding the cells.
The next step was to make a version of that chemical, and to test it on mice, where it showed an effect on their behaviour that roughly equated to antidepressant effects in humans.
The researchers believe that a drug based on VGF could offer "possibly even superior efficacy" to current antidepressants.
'Clinically effective'
Marcus Roberts, Head of Policy at Mind, said that, currently, the use of exercise as a treatment for mental health problems should be recommended by doctors.
"Mind has long recommended physical exercise as a way of improving mental wellbeing, and many people who experience mental distress have told us that exercise has hugely benefited their mental health.
"Our own research has shown that outdoor exercise can decrease feelings of depression and increase self-esteem by inspiring a sense of achievement - the evidence is growing that this should be treated as a clinically valid treatment."
It’s just so sad when mice are depressed.
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