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R Lowry

Publications and source records attributed to R Lowry.

59 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMedDate not supplied

Timing of alcohol and other drug use and sexual risk behaviors among unmarried adolescents and young adults.

CONTEXT: Although alcohol and drug use by young people has been associated with sexual risk behavior in some research, detailed data are lacking on the timing of substance use in relationship to sexual risk-taking. METHODOLOGY: Cross-sectional data on 7,441 unmarried young people aged 14-22 from the 1992 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (household supplement) were used in the analysis. Alcohol and other drug use at last sexual intercourse, substance use in the past 30 days (recent use), the number of different substances ever used (lifetime use) and age at initiation of alcohol use are examined here. The outcome variables assessed through multivariate regression analyses were condom use at last intercourse and more than one sexual partner in the past three months. RESULTS: Failure to use a condom was strongly associated with the lifetime substance-use scale or, alternatively, with age at initiation of alcohol. Once the number of substances ever used was controlled for, neither substance use at last sexual intercourse nor recent use was associated with the likelihood of using a condom at last coitus. Among young men and women, recent substance use and use of either alcohol or drugs at last intercourse were both strongly associated with having had more than one sexual partner in the past three months. For females only, lifetime use also increased the probability of recent multiple partners. CONCLUSIONS: The relationships between alcohol and other drug use and two sexual behaviors--condom use and multiple partners-suggest distinct mechanisms of influence and the need for different prevention strategies.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The relationship of soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels to allograft arteriopathy after heart transplantation.

Certain dynamics of rejection after heart transplantation can be characterized by measuring soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels. To determine whether elevated levels could predict development of coronary artery disease, the mean of three weekly determinations the first month after heart transplantation, as well as values obtained at 6 months, 12 months, 18 months, and 24 months after the procedure, were evaluated. Comparison was made between the groups in whom allograft arteriopathy did or did not develop. Concomitant endomyocardial biopsy scores also were evaluated. Fifty-five patients surviving the initial 30 days after heart transplantation were prospectively followed up. Eighty-five percent were male, and the median age was 51 years. Coronary arteriopathy developed in 15 patients (27%) during a mean follow-up period of 26 months (range, 1 to 54 months). For the early follow-up point, mean (+/- standard deviation) receptor levels for those patients without allograft arteriopathy were 880 +/- 846 U/ml and for those with arteriopathy, 1410 +/- 590 U/ml (p = 0.001). At each follow-up point thereafter, soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels were greater in the group with allograft arteriopathy. Indeed, at all observation points, the group in whom disease developed had levels greater than 1000 U/ml, and these values were, from a statistical standpoint, always greater than the group without detectable arteriopathy. In contradistinction, endomyocardial biopsy scores were no different at either early or late follow-up periods. Allograft arteriopathy after heart transplantation seems predicted by early elevation of plasma soluble interleukin-2 receptor levels, and patients with this difficulty generally have elevated levels during long-term follow-up.

Coronary Disease↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The use of condoms with other contraceptive methods among young men and women.

In a nationally representative sample of sexually experienced youths aged 14-22, 37% of young women and 52% of young men said the condom was the primary method used to prevent pregnancy at last intercourse; an additional 8% and 7%, respectively, said they used a condom at last intercourse; much of this represents dual use [corrected]. Condom use at last intercourse was reported by 25% of young men whose partner was using the pill. Significant independent predictors of condom use with the pill among men included younger age, black race, engaging in fewer nonsexual risk behaviors and having received instruction about HIV in school. Among young women, 21% of those relying on the pill reported also using a condom at last intercourse. For women, independent predictors of dual use included younger age, black race, older age at first sex, fewer nonsexual risk behaviors, having no partners in the previous three months and having talked to parents or other adult relatives about HIV.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Multiple sexual partners among U.S. adolescents and young adults.

CONTEXT: Because many teenagers and young adults fail to use condoms correctly and consistently, the number of sexual partners they have is an important risk factor for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV. Identifying factors that are associated with having multiple partners can help in the design of disease interventions. METHODS: Data on 8,450 males and females aged 14-22 who participated in the 1992 Youth Risk Behavior Survey were used to examine the prevalence of and factors associated with young people's having multiple partners. RESULTS: In all, 63% of female respondents and 64% of males were sexually experienced. Among those who had had sex during the three months before the survey, 15% and 35%, respectively, had had two or more partners during that period. At each age, the majority of sexually experienced respondents had had more than one lifetime partner; between ages 14 and 21, the proportion who had had six or more rose from 8% to 31% among females and from 14% to 45% among males. In logistic regression analyses, alcohol use, illicit drug use and young age at first coitus were associated with increased odds that females had had two or more partners in the previous three months, and being married lowered the odds; black or Hispanic race or ethnicity, alcohol use and young age at first coitus increased the odds for males, and being married reduced the odds. As the number of reported alcohol-related behaviors increased, the adjusted proportion of respondents who had recently had multiple partners rose from 8% to 48% among females and from 23% to 61% among men. CONCLUSIONS: The strong association between alcohol use and having multiple sexual partners underscores the need to educate young people about the effects of alcohol on partner choice and the risk of infection with sexually transmitted diseases.

Adolescent↗