Sex without disclosure of positive HIV serostatus in a US probability sample of persons receiving medical care for HIV infection.

Abstract

We estimated the proportion of HIV-positive adults who have any sexual contact without disclosure and the proportion of their sexual partnerships that involve unprotected sex without disclosure. We drew participants from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (n = 1421). Interviews assessed disclosure and sexual activities with up to 5 recent partners. Overall, 42% of the gay or bisexual men, 19% of the heterosexual men, and 17% of all the women reported any sex without disclosure, predominately within nonexclusive partnerships (P <.001). Across all groups, 13% of serodiscordant partnerships involved unprotected anal or vaginal sex without disclosure, with no significant difference between groups. Risky sex without disclosure of serostatus is not uncommon among people with HIV.