By Kira Bindrim
Crain's New York Business, Monday, January 5, 2009 — Binge-drinking New Yorkers are more likely than moderate drinkers to contract HIV and other STDs, according to a report released Monday by the city's health department.
About 15% of the city's adults say they binge drink — defined as consuming five or more drinks on one occasion — at least once a month, according to the report "Alcohol Use and Risky Sex in New York City." Binge drinkers are 50% more likely than non-binge drinkers — and three times as likely as non-drinkers — to report having between two and four sexual partners in the past year.
"Many New Yorkers recognize that drinking increases the risk of injuries and auto accidents, but they may not recognize these other risks," said Dr. Thomas Frieden, the city's health commissioner, in a statement.
The study suggested drinking may even contribute to loosened sexual inhibitions more than other drugs, in part because alcohol is both legal and more commonly used.
"There's a wide body of evidence that shows the use of alcohol can lead to lowered inhibitions and impaired judgment," said Sean Cahill, managing director of public policy, research and community health at the nonprofit Gay Men's Health Crisis. "There's been a lot of emphasis in the media on crystal meth as a problem connected with HIV-risk behavior. [But] people forget about this legal substance that people can abuse."
The city's study showed a particularly heightened HIV risk among men who have sex with men, 24% of whom said they binge drink at least once a month. Some 40% of binge—drinking homosexual men reported having five or more sex partners in the past year, compared with 21% for non-binge drinking homosexuals.
Mr. Cahill says there are myriad reasons alcohol could be more problematic in the gay community. "Any approach that aims at decreasing this disparity that the [Department of Health] has identified has to understand that for many in the gay community, gay bars are a site of social interaction and a site of community," he said.
The report also highlighted the relationship between teen binge drinking and unsafe sex. About 14% of teen respondents said they had more than five drinks in one sitting in the last month. More than a quarter of teens who drank alcohol at all in the last month reported having multiple sexual partners, compared with 11% for non-drinking teens. And only 60% of teens who had used drugs or alcohol before having sex reported using condoms, compared with 72% for sober teens.
The city's report comes six months after more than 100 college presidents launched the Amethyst Initiative, a group that supports lowering the drinking age to 18 from 21 in an effort to curb binge drinking on and off campus. In a survey published last year by the American College Health Association, more than a third of college students said they had binged on alcohol at least once in the previous two weeks.
Data in the city report is drawn from the health department's 2007 Community Health Survey, as well as local data from the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance project.
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