WEDNESDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- A sizeable percentage of HIV-positive people deliberately choose to abstain from sex, according to a new U.S. survey.

Researchers found that 11 percent of gay or bisexual men, 18 percent of heterosexual men, and 18 percent of women being treated for HIV had decided not to have sex. The survey included 1,339 people who took part in the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study, led by a team from the Rand Corp., of Santa Monica, Calif.

"We really don't have a good estimate of how many people who are HIV-positive have deliberately chosen to be sexually inactive. This information may be useful to those who create HIV education and prevention programs," study author and Rand psychologist Laura Bogart said in a prepared statement.

The findings appear in the June issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

Of the 1,339 people in the study, 415 were sexually inactive, but only 201 of them said they'd deliberately chosen to be abstinent. Gay and bisexual men were most likely to refrain from sex to protect others, while heterosexual men and women more often chose abstinence if they were in poor health.

People in all three groups were less likely to decide to be sexually inactive if they had a spouse or partner.

The survey was conducted in 1998, but the researchers said they believe the findings are still valid, because there have been no major changes in HIV treatment since then that would cause people with HIV to change their behavior.

More information

The U.S. National Center for HIV, STD and TB Prevention has more about living with HIV/AIDS.

-- Robert Preidt

SOURCE: Rand Corp., news release, May 2, 2006

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