Eefect of Alcohol Use on Risky Sexual Behaviour and Gonorrhoea and Chlamydia Infection at 37 Military Hospital

Abstract

Alcohol consumption is a known modifier of human behaviour that affects the decision-making process and reduces inhibitions. This leads to individuals taking risks they would normally not engage in such as unprotected sex and having multiple sexual partners. These behaviours could expose individuals to sexually transmitted infections. This study investigates the association between alcohol consumption and risky sexual behaviour. A secondary analysis of a cross-sectional study that took place from 2013 to 2016 at 37 Military Hospital in Greater Accra was done. Data analysis was conducted using STATA 14 using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression. Thirty-two per cent of participants reported consuming alcohol. Alcohol consumption was significantly associated with gender (p<0.001). Similarly, alcohol consumption was significantly associated with condom use (p<0.05), number of sexual partners (p<0.001) and gonorrhoea infection (p<0.01). Multinomial logistic regression showed that participants who consumed alcohol were more likely to never use a condom during sexual relations (p<0.01), have more than one sexual partner (p<0.01) and have gonorrhoea (p<0.001). The study confirms that alcohol consumption is associated with risky sexual behaviour in Ghana as has been shown in East and Southern Africa. Alcohol use needs to be considered as an important risk factor for risky sexual behaviour and STI infection. Further research needs to be done on alcohol’s association with risky sexual behaviour such as event level association and use validated methods such as AUDIT to measure alcohol consumption.