New CDC Report Examines Drug Use and Sexual Behavior

For Immediate Release: June 22, 2007

Contact: CDC, National Center for Health Statistics, Office of Communication (301) 458-4800
E-mail: cdcinfo@cdc.gov

Drug Use and Sexual Behaviors Reported by Adults: United States, 1999-2002. Advance Data Number 384. 15 pp. (PHS)2007-1250.
PDF Version (204 KB)

CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics has issued a new report, “Drug Use and Sexual Behaviors Reported by Adults, United States, 1999-2002.”

The report uses data collected over a 4-year period from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). Some of the highlights include:

• Only 4 percent of adults ages 20 years and older have never had sex.
• Of all race/ethnic groups, Mexican-American adults had the lowest percentage (88 percent) who ever had sex.
• Twenty-nine percent of men reported having 15 or more female sexual partners over their lifetime compared to 9 percent of women who reported having 15 or more male sexual partners in a lifetime.
• More than one in five adults 20-49 years of age have tried cocaine or other street drugs at some time in their life.