The study, authored by three researchers from the Centers for Disease
Control, examined "adverse health outcomes" that result from sexual
activity including both sexually transmitted diseases, viruses and
infections, infertility and abortions. More men than women died in 1998
as a result of sexual behavior-- 19,634 men compared to 10,148 women.

But almost all of the deaths in men were caused by HIV. "If HIV-related
mortality were excluded, more than 80 percent of sexual behavior-related mortality would be among ... women." The study found that 5,914 women died of non-HIV related sexual behavior; for men the number was number 1,413.

While HIV killed 4,234 women, it was cervical cancer that was the
leading cause of death for women, claiming 4,921 lives. Cervical cancer
is caused primarily by the human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted disease. That it causes more deaths than HIV is notable due to the politically charged nature of HPV. Because condoms do not protect against HPV, a fact acknowledged by the American Cancer Society, pro-family organizations have pointed to it as proof that sexual health can be insured only by abstinence and then a monogamous marriage. Planned Parenthood Federation of America has in the past accused such organizations of engaging in "an alarmist and misleading public policy and media campaign."

Beyond deaths, the report also examines the overall health effects of
sexual behavior. It found that in the course of one year, 7.5 percent of
Americans suffered from almost 20 million incidences of negative health
effects brought on by sexual behavior. Of such cases women suffered a
disproportionate 62 percent including 2.5 million cases of gonorrhea and
2.6 million cases of trichomoniasis.

The study also calculated the Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALY) cost
for illnesses brought on by sexual behavior. DALY is a number that
combines into a single measurement the loss of healthy years of life
that result from an illness with the years of life cut short by
premature death due to an illness. Sexual behavior cost women 1,224,953 disability adjusted life years while men came in under one million.

The report did not buffer the bad news with hopeful predictions and
called this a problem not likely to go away soon. "[G]iven the size and
chronicity of HIV, HPV, and other hepatitis virus epidemics, the overall
health burden related to sexual behavior is unlikely to decline rapidly
in coming years."

END