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Table 4 Characteristics of sexual behaviour for HIV-infected and HIV-uninfected women (n = 435)

From: Sexual behaviour of women in rural South Africa: a descriptive study

Characteristic

HIV-infected (n = 178)

HIV-uninfected (n = 257)

p-value

General characteristics

 Ethnicity (Sotho vs. Shangaan)

90 (51)/88 (49)

136 (53)/121 (47)

0.63

 Age

34 (20–49)

28 (18–49)

<0.001

 Hormonal contraceptives

50 (28)

116 (45)

<0.001

 Intravaginal cleansing

42 (24)

73 (28)

0.29

 Visits bars

20 (11)

36 (14)

0.41

 Alcohol use [before sex intercourse]

15 (8.6)

26 (10)

0.58

 Lifetime number of sexual partners

4 (1–30)

3 (1–15)

<0.001

Sexual practice in past 6 months

 Currently has a steady partner

167 (95)

243 (95)

0.99

 Currently has occasional partner(s)

24 (14)

25 (9.8)

0.21

 Condom use during last sex act

91 (51)

68 (27)

<0.001

 Practices fellatio

16 (9.5)

46 (19)

0.010

 Receptive anal intercourse

6 (3.6)

15 (6.1)

0.26

Sexual contact in past 12 months

 Concurrent sexual partners

33 (19)

33 (13)

0.095

 Sexual partner > 10 years older

42 (24)

68 (27)

0.59

 Sex with multiple partners

3 (1.7)

6 (2.3)

0.74

 Experienced coercion

42 (24)

76 (30)

0.18

 Experienced force

4 (2.3)

7 (2.7)

1.0

 Sex for money or material benefits

4 (2.3)

7 (2.7)

1.0

 Commercial sex work

1 (0.6)

1 (0.4)

1.0

About steady sexual partner (n = 538)

 Knows that partner has concurrent partners

46 (28)

55 (23)

0.26

 Circumcised partner

132 (82)

225 (94)

<0.001

 Knows partner’s HIV-status

67 (40)

85 (35)

0.30

 Known HIV-infected partner

55 (33)

2 (0.8)

<0.001

  1. Data are provided as numbers (%) and median (range). HIV, Human Immunodeficiency Virus