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OBJECTIVE: To assess racial differences in the use of antibiotics, including penicillins, erythromycins, tetracyclines, sulfas, and cephalosporins.DESIGN: Population-based surveys, conducted from 1985 to 1987.SETTING: The seven-county metropolitan area of Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN.PARTICIPANTS: 3127 whites (response rate 68 percent) and 1047 blacks (response rate 65 percent), aged 35–74 years.RESULTS: White women (26 percent of 1625) were more likely to report having taken an antibiotic in the past year than were white men (18 percent of 1502), black women (18 percent of 590), or black men (15 percent of 457). Reported antibiotic usage decreased with increasing age. Black men were more likely than white men to report the use of tetracyclines or sulfas; otherwise, white men reported higher usage prevalences. White women reported higher usage prevalences of all drug classes than black women.CONCLUSIONS: Significant independent predictors of antibiotic use were younger age, white race, and female gender. Potential explanations for these differences include differences in patient access, physician-prescribing behaviors, or both.

The Women's Interagency HIV Study comprises the largest U.S. cohort to date of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-seropositive women (N = 2,058) with a comparison cohort of seronegative women (N = 568). The methodology, training, and quality assurance activities employed are described. The study population, enrolled between October 1994 and November 1995 through six clinical consortia throughout the United States (totaling 23 sites) represents a typically hard-to-reach study population. More than half of the women in each cohort were living below the federally defined levels of poverty. The women ranged in age from 16 to 73 years; approximately one-quarter self-identified as Latina or Hispanic, over one-half as African-American not of Hispanic origin, and less than 20 as white, non-Hispanic origin. Self-reporting of HIV exposure risk included injection drug use by 34 of the seropositive women and 28 of the seronegative women, heterosexual contact (42 vs26), transfusion risk (4 vs3) and no identified risk (20 vs43). Demographic and HIV exposure risk characteristics of the seropositive cohort were comparable with characteristics of nationally reported AIDS cases in U.S. women. This well characterized cohort of HIV-seropositive and high-risk seronegative women represents a rich opportunity for future studies of HIV disease progression and pathogenesis.

The global HIV pandemic has continued unabated during the 1990s. The numbers of persons worldwide infected with HIV increased threefold from 10 million in 1990 to 30 million by the end of 1996. Included among these 30 million cumulative cases are approximately 11 million women, 16 million men, and 3 million children. The vast majority of new infections (94%) have occurred in developing countries, with 70% of adult infections resulting from heterosexual transmission. Currently, almost half of all new HIV infections are being reported in women. 1,122