Authentic Medicine Moment #6: Alcohol and Sex
Would you believe there was a study in the Journal of Addiction that concluded that the more alcohol a person drinks the higher his or her chances of having unsafe sex? Yeah, I know, but we all pay for these studies.
Quote from the article synopsis:
“In these experiments, study participants were randomly allocated to one of two groups in which they either consumed alcohol or did not. Then their intention to engage in unsafe sex was measured. An increase in blood alcohol level of 0.1 mg/mL resulted in an increase of 5.0% (95% CI: 2.8% – 7.1%) in the indicated likelihood of engaging in unprotected sex.”
How does one measure ‘intention’? I think we all need to know this because we (I) could possible base future salary negotiation based on our (my) “intention” to provide additional training for clinicians and ancillary staff, spend more time in meaningful non-clinical activities (is this not a meaningful medical “journal”?) and other endeavors which would enhance our practice.
Also, I did not see data which indicated which females were intending to engage in sexual activity prior to imbibing. Inquiring minds want to know.