Sexual behaviour and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among men in fertile, primary infertile and secondary infertile relationships
| Variable | Fertile relationship | Primary infertile | AOR* | p Value | Secondary infertile | AOR* | p Value | p Value§ |
| N=189 | N=121 | N=133 | ||||||
| n (%) | n (%) | n (%) | ||||||
| Sexual behaviours | ||||||||
| Ever separated | 22 (12) | 26 (21) | 1.66 (0.83–3.31) | 0.15 | 32 (24) | 2.03 (1.07–3.84) | 0.03 | 0.6 |
| Ever separated (not because of childlessness) | 21 (11) | 26 (21) | 1.80 (0.89–3.61) | 0.10 | 29 (22) | 1.82 (0.94–3.52) | 0.07 | 0.9 |
| Age at first intercourse < 20 | 79 (42) | 53 (44) | 1.00 (0.96–1.03) | 0.9 | 65 (49) | 0.97 (0.93–1.00) | 0.06 | 0.4 |
| Four or more lifetime sexual partners | 86 (45) | 57 (47) | 0.95 (0.81–1.12) | 0.5 | 76 (57) | 1.12 (0.96–1.31) | 0.14 | 0.1 |
| Never used a condom | 47 (25) | 49 (41) | 2.30 (1.37–3.85) | 0.002 | 38 (29) | 1.18 (0.70–2.00) | 0.5 | 0.05 |
| No condom use at last sexual intercourse | 167 (88) | 119 (98) | 8.51 (1.91–37.92) | 0.005 | 127 (95) | 3.03 (1.16–7.87) | 0.02 | 0.2 |
| Multiple partners in past year | 9 (5) | 19 (16) | 5.34 (2.24–12.72) | <0.001 | 32 (24) | 7.11 (3.20–15.78) | <0.001 | 0.1 |
| Reported partner's infidelity | 2 (1) | 1 (1) | 0 (0) | |||||
| STIs | ||||||||
| Genital symptoms in the past year | 13 (7) | 13 (11) | 1.51 (0.63–3.59) | 0.3 | 16 (12) | 1.89 (0.85–4.21) | 0.12 | 0.7 |
| Clinical STI† | 7 (4) | 2 (2) | 9 (7) | |||||
| Active syphilis infection‡ | 2 (1) | 3 (2) | 3 (2) | |||||
| Any active STI¶ | 9 (5) | 5 (4) | 0.70 (0.20–2.44) | 0.6 | 12 (9) | 2.30 (0.89–5.92) | 0.08 | 0.1 |
| Old treated syphilis‡ | 10 (5) | 7 (6) | 1.44 (0.52–3.99) | 0.5 | 3 (2) | 0.48 (0.13–1.84) | 0.3 | 0.1 |
| Positive HSV-2 serology‡ | 71 (38) | 50 (42) | 1.27 (0.77–2.09) | 0.3 | 79 (60) | 2.57 (1.58–4.16) | <0.001 | 0.005 |
| Positive HIV serology‡ | 18 (9) | 19 (16) | 1.86 (0.90–3.85) | 0.09 | 36 (27) | 3.28 (1.78–6.41) | <0.001 | 0.03 |
↵* Adjusted for male age, education and income.
↵† Clinical STIs include urethral discharge and genital ulcer; one case missing for fertile men.
↵‡ Syphilis: one case missing for secondary infertility; HSV-2: two and one case missing for primary and secondary infertility, respectively; HIV: one case missing for secondary infertility.
↵§ Last column p value derived from comparison of men in primary and secondary infertile relationships.
↵¶ Includes active syphilis infection and clinical STIs.
AOR, adjusted odds ratio; HSV-2, herpes simplex virus 2.