Disease relevance of Risk-Taking

• Methadone maintenance therapy resulted in a lower rate of drug-related (mean [SD] at 12 months, 2.17 [3.88] vs 3.73 [6.86]) but not sex-related HIV risk behaviors and in a lower severity score for legal status (mean [SD] at 12 months, 0.05 [0.13] vs 0.13 [0.19]) [1].
• To examine the extent and correlates of infection with herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and type 2 (HSV-2) in an inner-city community, we studied the prevalence of antibodies to these viruses and their association with risk behaviors in a representative sample of unmarried white, black, and Hispanic adults living in San Francisco, Calif. DESIGN [2].
• CONCLUSIONS: Most studies reported frequent sildenafil use in men who have sex with men, and several showed independent associations between use of the drug and sexual risk behavior, as well as an increased risk for STDs, including incident HIV infection [3].
• HPV 6, 11, 16, 18 and 33 seropositivity was used as a marker for the different HPV infections, and seropositivity for Chlamydia trachomatis and cotinine were used as markers for risk-taking sexual behavior and smoking respectively [4].
• GOAL: To compare the use-effectiveness of azithromycin and doxycycline for preventing persistence or recurrence of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women and to evaluate associated risk behaviors [5].

Psychiatry related information on Risk-Taking

• Among persons who do not report risk behaviors for HIV infection, men had substantially higher median rates of HIV infection than women (P less than 0.001, Wilcoxon Signed Rank test), and rates were positively correlated with HIV infection rates in IV drug users in the same clinic (Pearson correlation coefficient [r] = 0.8; P less than 0.001) [6].
• CONCLUSIONS: Among high-risk methamphetamine-dependent GBM, drug abuse treatments produced significant reductions in methamphetamine use and sexual risk behaviors [7].
• The authors developed a new gambling task, the Game of Dice Task, with explicit and stable rules for reinforcement and punishment, to investigate relations between executive functions and risk-taking behavior in an explicit decision-making situation [8].
• Is antisocial personality disorder associated with increased HIV risk behaviors in cocaine users [9]?
• Differences in impulsivity and sexual risk behavior among inner-city crack/cocaine users and heroin users [10].

High impact information on Risk-Taking

• We administered a questionnaire based on the 1989 Secondary School Health Risk Survey and the 1990 Youth Risk Behavior Survey of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to 1881 students enrolled in compulsory health-science classes (mean [+/- SD] age, 14.9 +/- 1.0 years) in the Richmond County, Georgia, school system [11].
• CONTEXT: The US Preventive Services Task Force recommends that physicians assess patients' health risk behaviors, addressing those needing modification [12].
• OBJECTIVE--To estimate the prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and risk behaviors among young homosexual and bisexual men sampled from public venues in San Francisco and Berkeley, Calif. DESIGN--A survey of 425 young homosexual and bisexual men sampled from 26 locations during 1992 and 1993 [13].
• Cocaine use, risk taking, and fatal Russian roulette [14].
• CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that low CSF 5-HIAA concentrations quantified early in life is a powerful biological predictor of future excessive aggression, risk taking, and premature death among nonhuman primate males [15].

Chemical compound and disease context of Risk-Taking

• Increased aggression, risk-taking behavior, or depression has been associated with low cholesterol levels in some studies [16].
• This high-risk practice correlated with greater numbers of male sex partners, use of nitrite inhalants, sex in commercial sex environments, perceived difficulty controlling sexual risk-taking, and negative emotional reactions following UAI [17].
• The present study was designed to assess the acute effects of MDMA and alcohol, alone and in combination, on behavioral measures of impulsivity and risk-taking behavior [18].
• Risk-taking behavior: effects of ethanol, caffeine, and basal sleepiness [19].
• STUDY OBJECTIVES: This study examined the effects of ethanol, caffeine, and basal sleepiness on a laboratory measure of risk-taking behavior, the Stop Light Task [19].

Biological context of Risk-Taking

• Substantial simultaneity of risk-taking was observed, with a high level of both non-injecting (crack, 82%) and injecting (heroin, cocaine or both, 16 30%) drug use, the exchange of sex or money for drugs by men (approximately 35%) and women (57-71%), and high frequency of same-sex sexual activity by men (9.4%) and women (33%) [20].
• As in other parts of the nation, this may be due to diminishing risk behavior among male homosexuals and the continuing effect of the cocaine epidemic and "drugs for sex," prostitution [21].
• METHODS: Three surveys were reviewed in this paper: The Youth Risk Behavior Survey conducted by the Center for Disease Control (1991, 1995, 1997); The Methods for the Epidemiology of Child and Adolescent Mental Disorders Study (1991); and the Youth Survey (1997-98) [22].
• The second part discusses biological traits associated with both risk-taking and personality, particularly sensation seeking, such as the D4 dopamine receptor gene. the enzyme monoamine oxidase, and augmenting or reducing of the cortical evoked potential [23].
• In January 2005, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention hosted a national consultation of scientists, public health officials, and community service providers to address growing concerns about the association of methamphetamine use and sexual risk behavior for HIV/STD infection, which is well documented among men who have sex with men [24].

Gene context of Risk-Taking

• Risk-behavior bias predicted more drug and cigarette use and predicted less participation in drug treatment at Wave 3 [25].
• Source of referral to ASAP, interest in treatment, and prior sexual risk behavior change were significant predictors of intervention outcome [26].
• When adjustment was made for markers of sexual risk taking, only genital warts remained significantly (p = 0.05) associated with SFM as compared to both SSM and COMP [27].
• Contrary to earlier beliefs, ADHD frequently persists into adolescence and adulthood and is associated with poor health choices and risk-taking behavior [28].
• Thus, overall, mice with targeted mutation of the BDNF gene exhibited increased spontaneous locomotion and increased response to acute amphetamine, altered response to chronic cocaine, increased aggression, increase in risk-taking behavior, as demonstrated by time spent in the center of an open field, and changes in eating patterns [29].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of Risk-Taking

• Questionnaires on risk behaviors and blood tests were administered to a random sample (n = 395) of male port workers employed by the Santos Port Authority [30].
• METHODS: This study was designed as a retrospective case control study at the University and Veterans Hospitals. In a 5-year period, 764 consecutive patients who required infrainguinal revascularizations were compared with a statewide population that was described by the 1995 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System database [31].
• To estimate the seroprevalence and investigate risk behaviors for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection in intravenous drug users in Los Angeles County, a stratified, random sample of 790 clients, enrolled in either methadone maintenance or detoxification programs, were studied [32].
• DESIGN: Cross-sectional analyses of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's 1995 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. SETTING: US high schools [33].
• RESULTS: At T2, students in the intervention group reported attitudes that were less favorable toward risk-taking in regard to speeding and seat belt use than those of the control group [34].

References