Relationship between depression and risk behaviors in a US Military population with HIV infection

This study evaluated the relationships between depression trajectories, depression diagnosis and sexual risk behaviors in the US Military HIV Natural History Study. Risk behavior survey data, a coded diagnosis of depression, available Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression measures, and self-reported depressive symptoms (n = 662) were utilized. Latent class analysis created 3 classes of depression trajectories, namely, low depression (LD, n = 378), recent-onset depression (ROD, n = 170), and high depression (HD, n = 114) trajectories. Overall, participants with clinically diagnosed depression were less likely to report often using condoms with new sexual partners in the past 3 months than those who have never been diagnosed with depression (OR 0.15, 95% CI 0.49–2.53). Participants with ROD (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.28–0.97) and HD (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.24–0.96) trajectories were less likely to report often using condoms with new sexual partners in the past 3 months than those with LD trajectories. Moreover, those with either ROD (OR 2.13, 95% CI 1.19–3.80) or HD (OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.43–5.24) trajectories were more likely to have had sex with ≥2 new sexual partners in the last 3 months than those with LD trajectories. Continued efforts targeting HIV-infected persons with mental health disorders are warranted to reduce sexual risk behaviors.