Decisions About Condom Use Among Gay Couples Vary by Race

HealthDay – 1 hr 41 mins ago SUNDAY, July 22 (HealthDay News) -- Decisions about condom use among gay couples vary by race, a new study reveals.

Although black gay couples tend to practice safe sex more often, researchers from San Francisco State University found they don't talk about it. However, white gay couples often do the opposite, they noted. Although these couples discussed condoms, they are more likely to have unprotected sex.

The study authors added their findings are significant since gay men account for the majority of new HIV cases in the United States.

In their report, the researchers examined the behaviors of male couples living in San Francisco and New York City.

They found black couples were more likely to use condoms than white couples, regardless of HIV status. The black couples said that having safe sex was an unspoken rule and condom use was expected.

"Research has shown that some of the fastest-growing HIV cases in the U.S. are among men in couple relationships and among black men. However, we studied black men with black partners and found that they are practicing safe sex," said study leader Colleen Hoff, a professor of sexuality studies, said in a news release from San Francisco State. "This suggests that being in a relationship isn't a risk factor for black men. We need to keep searching for other factors that may explain the high incidence of HIV among this demographic."

The study also revealed that most white couples did not use condoms, regardless of HIV status. These couples reported they came to this decision by talking about the risks and benefits of having unprotected sex. The researchers noted interracial gay couples were not in agreement on whether to use condoms.

White and interracial couples that included partners with different HIV status said the health of the partner with HIV was a big part of their decision to have safe or unprotected sex. Many of these couples believed that if the HIV-positive person is on medication and has a low viral load, they are less likely to spread the disease to their HIV-negative partner, the study found.

The researchers suggested this reflects the belief among some gay couples that advances in HIV treatment reduce the risks associated with the virus.

"When some individuals get tested and hear that they have a lower viral load, they might interpret that decreased risk as no risk and hence use no protection," Hoff said. "It's a calculated risk that they are taking."

Among gay couples that occasionally broke their agreement to practice safe sex, once again race played a role in how they handled the situation, the study showed. Black couples tended to discuss what happened, get tested for HIV and go back to using condoms. Meanwhile, white and interracial gay couples were more likely to continue having unsafe sex.

"We found that black and white gay men process the information they receive about HIV in different ways, and for black men using condoms is the default choice," researcher Chad Campbell said in a news release. "The black gay men we surveyed were aware of the high rates of HIV among their demographic and were taking steps to ensure they don't become another statistic."

The study was expected to be presented on Sunday at the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C.

Research presented at medical meetings should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention provides more information on HIV among gay and bisexual men.

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UK may allow IVF for older women, same-sex couples

A powerful health advisory agency says Britain should extend free fertility treatments to women up to age 42 as well as same-sex couples, recommendations likely to be followed by many of the U.K.'s medical centers.

The British health system generally pays for up to three cycles of in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, for couples who have been trying to get pregnant for at least three years. Previously, women had to be under age 40 to qualify. Many government-funded clinics already treat gay and lesbian couples, but the recommendations now make that explicit, though they are not binding.

The guidelines are likely to affect only a minority of patients and it will be up to hospitals to decide whether to pay for IVF treatments. Britain's health service is being forced to trim

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Retired couples may need $240,000 for health care

Couples retiring this year can expect their medical bills throughout retirement to cost 4 percent more than those who retired a year ago, according to an annual projection released Wednesday by Fidelity Investments.

The estimated $240,000 that a newly retired couple will need to cover health care expenses reflects the typical pattern of projected annual increases. The Boston-based company cut the estimate for the first time last year, citing President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. Medicare changes resulting from that plan are expected to gradually reduce many seniors' out-of-pocket expenses for prescription drugs.

But Fidelity says overall health care cost trends are on the rise again, so it's raising its cost estimate from last year's $230,000 figure.

"As long as health care cost trends exceed personal income growth and economic growth, health care will still be a growing burden for the country as a whole and for individuals," says Sunit Patel, a senior vice president for benefits consulting at Fidelity, and an actuary who helped calculate the estimate.

However, this year's 4 percent rise is relatively modest. Annual increases have averaged 6 percent since Fidelity made its initial $160,000 calculation in 2002.

The projections are part of Fidelity's benefits consulting business. The study is based on projections for a 65-year-old couple retiring this year with Medicare coverage. The estimate factors in the federal program's premiums, co-payments and deductibles, as well as out-of-pocket prescription costs. The study assumes the couple does not have insurance from their former employers, and a life expectancy of 85 for women and 82 for men. The estimate doesn't factor in most dental services, or long-term care, such as the cost of living in a nursing home.

This year's estimate could change significantly. Next month, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether to strike down part or all of the 2010 health care law, including its centerpiece requirement that nearly all Americans carry insurance or pay a penalty.

If the ruling requires significant changes, Fidelity may update its estimate, Patel said.

Although its focus is expanding health care access to people under age 65, the law also is intended to benefit many retirees by gradually closing what's known as the 'doughnut hole' coverage gap in the Medicare drug benefit.

But longer-term, retirees' cost savings aren't expected to offset other factors driving expenses up, such as new medical technologies, greater use of health care services, and more diagnostic tests.

Fidelity's finding of a 4 percent increase in long-term medical costs for retirees is in line with recent data from the Employee Benefit Research Institute, said Paul Fronstin, director of health research and education for the private nonprofit organization.

"Costs are going up," Fronstin says.

EBRI conducts similar research but, unlike Fidelity, doesn't focus on an average. That's because there are so many variables that impact a retiree's circumstances, including life expectancy and prescription drug costs, Fronstin said.

In its latest annual estimate released last August, EBRI projected that a couple with median drug expenses

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More Unmarried Couples Having Babies: CDC

HealthDay – 43 mins ago THURSDAY, April 12 (HealthDay News) -- More unmarried women who live with their partners are having babies than ever before, a new government report shows.

Twenty-seven percent of births between 2003 and 2010 were to such couples -- a threefold increase from 1985, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found.

"It's thought that in births outside of marriage, one parent isn't present. But our data is showing that a large proportion do have two parents, even though

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