Partnership Concurrency Status and Condom Use Among Women Diagnosed with Trichomonas vaginalis

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND: Partner concurrency increases the risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as Trichomonas vaginalis. Women diagnosed with T. vaginalis have a 2- to 3-fold higher risk of acquiring the human immunodeficiency virus and developing the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. GOALS: We sought to describe partnership concurrency (multiple sexual partners during the same time period) and condom use among women diagnosed with T. vaginalis, and to compare reports of concurrency between matched female and male dyads. METHODS: A baseline interview on partnership status and condom use was administered to women diagnosed with T. vaginalis at a public sexually transmitted infections (STI) clinic. A male partner substudy was also conducted. Seventy-three dyads were matched by unique identifier and female and male responses were compared. RESULTS: The participants were 319 African American women and 10 white women aged 15-40 years (N = 329). Almost three fourths (72.3%) had only 1 partner over a 3-month period, compared with more than one fourth (27.7%) with >/=2 partners. Regular condom use was low (16.4%), especially with regular partners (9.1%). In the matched substudy, men reported significantly higher rates of concurrency than women (47.3% vs. 23.0%; p