PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - S H Ebrahim AU - M T McKenna AU - J S Marks TI - Sexual behaviour: related adverse health burden in the United States AID - 10.1136/sti.2003.008300 DP - 2005 Feb 01 TA - Sexually Transmitted Infections PG - 38--40 VI - 81 IP - 1 4099 - http://sti.bmj.com/content/81/1/38.short 4100 - http://sti.bmj.com/content/81/1/38.full SO - Sex Transm Infect2005 Feb 01; 81 AB - As part of an analysis of the burden of disease and injury in the United States, we identified and quantified the incidence of adverse health events, deaths, and disability adjusted life years (DALY) attributed to sexual behaviour. In 1998, about 20 million such events (7532/100 000 people) and 29 782 such deaths (1.3% of all US deaths) occurred, contributing to 2 161 417 DALYs (6.2% of all US DALYs). The majority of incident health events (62%) and DALYs (57%) related to sexual behaviour were among females, and curable infections and their sequelae contributed to over half of these. Viral infections and their sequelae accounted for nearly all sexual behaviour related deaths—mostly HIV/AIDS. Sexual behaviour attributed DALYs in the United States are threefold higher than that in overall established market economies.