Condom errors increase gonorrhea risk among men

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Many visitors to a sexual
health clinic report incorrect usage of condoms, which appears
to lead to a statistically significant increase risk of
gonorrhea among men, according to the results of a new study.

These results suggest it’s not enough to tell people to use
condoms – they also need to learn how to use them correctly,
the authors note.

“The importance of condom use seems obvious, yet the
results from this study demonstrate that it must be taught even
to sexually experienced individuals and that the lack of
correct use can be linked to infection,” write Dr. Diane M.
Grimley of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and her
colleagues.

In the American Journal of Health Behavior, Grimley and her
colleagues note that one in five adults in the U.S. currently
has an incurable sexually transmitted disease (STD). Evidence
suggests that using a condom can protect against STDs, but
perhaps not if used incorrectly.

Grimley and her team interviewed 1124 people visiting an
STD clinic about their use of condoms and if they made any
mistakes while using a condom in the past 30 days.

More than half of the people interviewed during the study
said they had not used a condom the last time they had sex.

Within the past month, more than 40 percent of both men and
women said they had not squeezed air out of the tip of the
condom before using it. More than 40 percent of men and more
than 30 percent of women reported that a condom broke during
intercourse in the last month.

About one third of men and women they had not held the base
of a condom during withdrawal, and 24 percent of men and 30
percent of women did not leave a space at the tip of the
condom. Many people also admitted they started having sex
before using a condom.

Women were more likely to say they had not left space at
the tip or removed air from the tip of a condom before using
it, while men were more likely to say they put on a condom
inside out or had a condom break.

More than 15 percent of study participants had either
gonorrhea or chlamydia, some both. Men who said a condom had
broken during the last 30 days were more than 90 percent more
likely to have gonorrhea.

“The tendency to assume that consistent condom users are
using condoms correctly seriously underestimates their risk of
transmitting or contracting STDs or becoming pregnant
unintentionally,” Grimley and her team conclude.

SOURCE: American Journal of Health Behavior, July/August
2005.