BIRMINGHAM, AL – The most recent news about condom use and STD protection isn’t all good. Not because condoms don’t work, but because sexually active people don’t always use them – and when they do, they don’t always use them properly.Diane Grimley is a researcher with the University of Alabama at Birmingham. She and her colleagues recently observed that although the value of using a condom properly was obvious to all members of their study, mistakes were common and were associated with an increased rate of breakage and gonorrhea infections in men. The researcher concluded that, “The tendency to assume that consistent condom users are using condoms correctly seriously underestimates their risk of transmitting or contracting STDs or becoming pregnant unintentionally.”

The University’s study focused on more than 1,100 men and women who had been treated in the Alabama public STD clinic and reported using a condom during the previous 30 days. Nearly a quarter of those questioned indicated that there had been condom difficulties during the past month. Women reported mistakes including not leaving space in the reservoir tip or not removing air in the tip before unrolling the condom. Men reported more difficulty with such things as breakage and getting the condom unrolled properly without needing to reverse and reapply it. Samples were collected for STD testing and revealed that more than 15-percent of those tested had one or both of the most frequently treated STDs handled by the clinic: Chlamydia and gonorrhea. Infections were nearly twice as likely in men who had reported condom breakage than in those who had not. Other common condom use mistakes included unrolling the condom before putting it on, beginning intercourse prior to condom use, using condoms more than use, and not holding onto the base of the condom during withdrawal.

Grimley’s team concluded that increased efforts to promote proper and consistent condom use are in order. Unfortunately, with an increase in abstinence-only education and governmental claims that condoms are less than effective against disease this may be more difficult than it might seem. Research indicates that young people often do not bother with the inexpensive barrier method for a variety of reasons, including lack of education as to their availability or effectiveness, stigma against their use, lack of understanding about STD vs. pregnancy risks, and how STDs are contracted.