![[ Visit Client Website ]](images/banner.gif)
Background: Exposure to lubricants may cause inflammation or modify the male urethral microbiota, contributing to idiopathic urethritis. We evaluated the relationship between lubricant use and NGU.
Methods: MSW attending the Public Health-Seattle & King County STD clinic underwent a clinical exam and Computer Assisted Self Interview (CASI) capturing sexual behavior at enrollment into a longitudinal study of NGU (defined as symptoms or urethral discharge and ≥5 PMNs/HPF). Testing for Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Mycoplasma genitalium (MG) was performed on urine (Aptima TMA, Hologic). Student’s t-tests and Fisher’s Exact tests were used for significance testing.
Results: Among 130 MSW with complete CASI data at baseline, median age was 30 (range 18-61); 61.8% were white; 11.2% (14/125) had CT and 9.7% (6/62) had MG. Over one-third (50/130) had NGU, of whom 14 (28.0%) had non-CT/non-MG NGU. Most (98.4%) reported vaginal sex in the past two months; 19.4% reported anal sex, and 94.4% reported masturbation. At last sex, 70.8% (17/24) used lubricants with anal sex, 38.9% (49/126) with vaginal sex, and 20.3% (24/118) with masturbation. The most commonly used lubricant for vaginal sex was lubricated condoms (24/49 (49.0%)), for anal sex commercial water-based lubricants (8/17 (47.1%)), and for masturbation non-commercial oil-based lubricants (10/24 (41.7%)). Age, race, education, income, number of partners, and frequency of sexual activity did not differ between men that did and did not use lubricants. Relative to men without NGU, lubricant use was somewhat more common among men with non-CT/non-MG NGU when used at last anal sex (5/6 (83.3%) vs. 9/13 (69.2%)) and masturbation (8/31 (25.8%) vs. 14/70 (20.0%)), but neither was statistically significant.
Conclusions: Among MSW, lubricants were commonly used for anal and vaginal sex and masturbation. Lubricant use was somewhat more common among men with non-CT/non-MG NGU, but numbers were small and larger studies are needed.