Sexual and Drug Use Risk Behaviors of Internal Long Distance Truck Drivers in Iran
-
Masoomeh MAAREFVAND
,
Besat KASSAIE
,
Hamidreza GHIASVAND
,
Robabeh ABOLFATHI GHARIBDOOSTI
,
Jagdish KHUBCHANDANI
Abstract
Background: Long Distance Truck Drivers (LDTDs) and their sexual health risk behaviors have been associated with greater prevalence of sexually transmitted Infections (STIs), HIV and hepatitis virus transmission. However, there is no information about Iranian LDTDs' high-risk behaviors. The aim of this investigation was to estimate the prevalence of high-risk behaviors in Iranian LDTDs.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in Jun 2014 with LDTDs from Tehran Province of Iran. LDTDs were recruited via convenience sampling and given a 43-item reliable and valid questionnaire to assess sexual health risk behaviors and demographic and background characteristics of study participants.
Results: A total of 349 LDTDs with the mean age of 36.91 yr (range, 19–65 yr) participated in the study. The average duration of staying away from home for participants was 5 d (SD=±1). Majority of the LDTDs were married (82.2 %) and had more than 5 yr (inclusive) of formal education (95.7%). Younger LDTDs reported more condom use with their partners (r=-0.170, P≤0.001), more extramarital sexual contacts (r=-0.157, P≤0.001), more pay for sex (r=-0.110, P≤0.005) and condom use in their extramarital sex contacts (including with sex workers) (r=-0.176, P≤0.001).
Conclusion: Iranian LDTDs have specific risk factors for unhealthy sexual behaviors. Prevention efforts must emphasize on specific high-risk groups.
World Health Organization HIV/AIDS fact sheet. Available from:
http://www.who.int/mediacen-tre/factsheets/fs360/en/ Accessed De-cember 18, 2014.
World Health Organization. HIV/AIDS: Data and Statistics. Available from:
http://www.who.int/hiv/data/en/ Ac-cessed December 18, 2014
Ostad Taghi Zadeh A, SeyedAlinaghi S, Has¬sanzad FF, Hajizadeh M, Mohamadi S, Emamzadeh-Fard S, Paydary K, Hos-seini M (2014). Prevalence of HIV infec-tion and the correlates among homeless in Tehran, Iran. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed, 4(1):65-8.
National AIDS Committee Secretariat, Min-is¬try of Health and Medical Education (2008). Islamic Republic of Iran: Progress Report on Monitoring of United Nations General Assembly Special Session (UN-GASS) on HIV and AIDS.
Agha S (2000). Potential for HIV transmis-sion among truck drivers in Pakistan. AIDS, 14(15):2404-6.
Podhisita C, Wawer MJ, Pramualratana A, Kanungsukkasem U, McNamara R (1996). Multiple sexual partners and con-dom use among long-distance truck driv-ers in Thai¬land. AIDS Educ Prev, 8(6):490-8.
Gysels M, Pool R, Bwanika K (2001). Truck drivers, middlemen and commercial sex workers: AIDS and the mediation of sex in south west Uganda. AIDS Care, 13(3):373-85.
Pandey A, Benara SK, Roy N, Sahu D, Thomas M, Joshi DK, et al. (2008). Risk be¬haviour, sexually transmitted infections and HIV among long-distance truck driv-ers: a cross-sectional survey along nation-al high¬ways in India. AIDS, 22 Suppl 5:S81–90.
Lichtenstein B, Hook EW, Grimley DM, St Lawrence JS, Bachmann LH (2008). HIV risk among long-haul truckers in the USA. Cult Health Sex, 10(1):43–56.
Atilola GO, Akpa OM, Komolafe IO (2010). HIV/AIDS and the long-distance truck drivers in south-west Nigeria: A cross-sec¬tional survey on the knowledge, atti-tude, risk behaviour and beliefs of truck-ers. J In¬fect Public Health, 3(4):166-78.
Singh RK, Joshi HS (2010). Sexual behavior among truck drivers. Indian J Public Health, 56(1):53-6.
Thappa DM, Manjunath JV, Kartikeyan K (2002). Truck drivers-at increased risk of HIV infection amongst STD clinic at-tendees. Indian J Dermatol Venereol Leprol, 68(5):312.
McCree DH, Cosgrove S, Stratford D, Val-way S, Keller N, Vega-Hernandez J, Jeni-son SA (2010). Sexual and drug use risk behaviors of long-haul truck drivers and their com¬mercial sex contacts in New Mexico. Public Health Rep, 125(1):52-60.
Zhang X, Chow EP, Wilson DP, Sun X, Zhao R, Zhang J, Jing J, Zhang L (2013). Preva¬lence of HIV and syphilis infections among long-distance truck drivers in China: a data synthesis and meta-analysis. Int J Infect Dis, 17(1):e2-7.
Gay Anderson D, Riley P (2008). Determin-ing standards of care for substance abuse and alcohol use in long-haul truck drivers. Nurs Clin North Am, 43(3):357-365.
Botros BA, Aliyev QM, Saad MD, Michael AA, Sanchez JL, Carr JK, Earhart KC (2009). HIV infection and associated risk factors among long-distance truck drivers travelling through Azerbaijan. Int J STD AIDS, 20(7):477-82.
Lippman SA, Pulerwitz J, Chinaglia M, Hub-bard A, Reingold A, Dı´az J (2007). Mo-bil¬ity and its liminal context: Exploring sexual partnering among truck drivers crossing the Southern Brazilian border. Soc Sci Med, 65:2464 – 2473.
Atilola GO, Akpa OM, Komolafe IO (2010). HIV/AIDS and the long-distance truck drivers in south-west Nigeria: a cross-sec-tional survey on the knowledge, attitude, risk behaviour and beliefs of truckers. J In¬fect Public Health, 3(4):166-178.
Chaturvedi S, Singh Z, Banerjee A, Khera A, Joshi RK, Dhrubajyoti D (2006). Sexual Be¬haviour among Long Distance Truck Driv¬ers. Indian J Community Med, 31(3): 153-156.
Road Maintenance and Transportation Or-gan¬ization (RMTO). RMTO Annual Re-port 2012. Available from:
http://www.rmto.ir/en/SitePages/Road%20Mainte-nance%20And%20Transporta-tion%20Organization.aspx Accessed De-cember 18, 2014
Jabbari H, Seyed Alinaghi SA, Kheirandish P, Djavid GR, Rasolinejad M, Hajiabdolbaghi M, Sedaghat A, Sargolzaei M, Sharifi AH, Mohraz M, Khoshnoud K (2010). Lack of HIV infection among truck drivers in Iran using rapid HIV test. J Res Med Sci, 15(5):287-289.
Razani N, Mohraz M, Kheirandish P, Ma-leki¬nejad M, Malekafzali H, Mokri A, McFar¬land W, Rutherford G (2007). HIV risk be¬havior among injection drug users in Teh¬ran, Iran. Addiction, 102(9):1472-82.
Mirzazadeh A, Haghdoost AA, Nedjat S, Navadeh S, McFarland W, Mohammad K (2013). Accuracy of HIV-related risk be¬haviors reported by female sex work-ers, Iran: a method to quantify measure-ment bias in marginalized populations. AIDS Be¬hav, 17(2):623-31.
Amiri FB, Gouya MM, Saifi M, Rohani M, Ta¬barsi P, Sedaghat A, Fahimfar N, Me-marnejadian A, Aghasadeghi MR, Hagh-doost AA, Jahanbakhsh F, Nasehi M, Mo¬stafavi E (2014). Vulnerability of homeless people in Tehran, Iran, to HIV, tuberculo¬sis and viral hepatitis. PLoS One, 4;9(6):e98742.
Shariatirad S, Maarefvand M, Ekhtiari H (2013). Emergence of a methampheta-mine crisis in Iran. Drug Alcohol Rev, 32(2):223-422.
Shariatirad S, Maarefvand M (2013). Sanc-tions against Iran and the impact on drug use an¬daddiction treatment. Int J Drug Pol-icy, 24(6):636-637.
Expediency Discernment Council of Islamic Republic of Iran. The effects of sanctions on narcotics issue [Farsi]. http://maslahat.ir/MainPage.aspx
| Files | ||
| Issue | Vol 45 No 5 (2016) | |
| Section | Original Article(s) | |
| Keywords | ||
| Long distance Truck driver High-risk behavior | ||
| Rights and permissions | |
|
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
