Race and risk for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in women with and without borderline personality disorder (BPD)

The aim of this study was to investigate prevalence and correlates of STIs in a psychiatric sample of women with and without Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). To date, we enrolled 215 women aged 18-40 years (M=26.9, SD=6.6); 114 women with BPD and 101 women who met DSM-IV criteria for current, non-psychotic Axis-I disorder, primarily mood disorders. We oversampled African-American (AA) women (34%, compared to 13% in the Pittsburgh area) because little is known about BPD in AA women, who tend to experience disproportionately high rates of STIs. All participants completed the Structured Clinical Interview for DMS-IV Axis I and II diagnoses (SCID-I and -II) and were interviewed about their sexual and reproductive history. Fifty-two percent of the sample reported an STI such as Chlamydia (24%), HPV (18%), or trichomonas (16%). AA women reported coitarche at an earlier age than non-AA women, but were not more likely to have been in the sex trade, or have riskier sexual partners. Nonetheless, regression analyses indicate that the AA women in this sample were at significantly higher risk for multiple STIs than the non-AA women, even after controlling for other significant covariates (age, SES, age at coitarche, BPD scores). The present findings indicate that, even within a high-risk psychiatric sample, AA women are at greater risk for STIs than other American women. The results of separate analyses conducted on the 2 groups highlighted different risk factors for AA and non-AA women in this sample, and may help better target interventions.