Smoking as a Risk Factor for STI Diagnosis Among African American Females

Objectives: To examine the relationship of smoking to sexual risk outcomes among African American adolescent females. Methods: We analyzed baseline data from an HIV intervention trial, including sexual risk (older sex partners, number of vaginal sex partners, sex while high on drugs/alcohol, STI diagnosis) and smoking status among 715 participants. Results: Smoking prevalence was 23.1%. Controlling for covariates, smoking predicted having older partners (P=.001), having sex while high on alcohol or drugs (P<.001), and STI diagnosis (P=.046), after including other sexual risk outcomes in the model. Conclusions: Smoking is an independent risk factor for sexual risk behaviors and STI diagnosis.