Are violence, harmful alcohol/substance use and poor mental health associated with increased genital inflammation?: A longitudinal cohort study with HIV-negative female sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya.

ABSTRACT: Violence, alcohol use, substance use and poor mental health have been linked with increased HIV acquisition risk, and genital inflammation enhances HIV susceptibility. We examined whether past 6 month experience of these exposures was associated with increased genital inflammation, thereby providing a biological link between these exposures and HIV acquisition risk. The Maisha Fiti study was a longitudinal mixed-methods study of female sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya. Behavioural-biological surveys were conducted at baseline (June-December 2019) and endline (June 2020-March 2021). Analyses were restricted to HIV-negative women (n = 746). Women with raised levels of at least 5 of 9 genital inflammatory cytokines were defined as having genital inflammation. Multivariable logistic regression mo

SUBMITTER: Beattie TS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11349110 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature