Social support associated with a reduced risk of sexually transmitted infection in Canadians.

im: This study examined the association between functional social support and sexually transmitted infection (STI) based on data from a cross-sectional survey in three Canadian provinces. Subject and Methods: We analyzed data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS), conducted in 2005. A total of 24,045 participants (12,581 women and 11,464 men) aged 15-49 years who answered questions about STI and completed the 19-item Medical outcomes study (MOS) social support survey were included in the analysis. Logistic regression model was used to estimate the associations between different types of social support and the prevalence of STI in different sex and age groups (15-24 years and 25-49 years) after adjustment for potential confounding factors. Results: The prevalence of self-reported STI was higher for women than for men in both the 15-24 year age group (6.20% vs. 3.20%) and the 25-49 year age group (9.89% vs. 8.76%). After controlling for potential confounding factors, there was a significant association between four domains of social support and STI in women aged 15-24 years, and the adjusted odds ratio (OR) for overall social support was 0.42 (95% CI: 0.24, 0.74) for the middle level group and 0.38 (95% CI: 0.19, 0.76) for the high level group as compared with the low level group, respectively. In the older age group, the high level of tangible social support was associated with a reduced risk of STI in women (adjusted OR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.62, 1.00), while the middle level of emotional or informational support was associated with STI in men (adjusted OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.57, 0.94). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that individuals with stronger social support had a lower risk of STI among Canadians, especially for younger women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]