[Effect of a safe-sex campaign on women attending a clinic of venereology. Sex behavior and prevalence of sexually transmitted diseases in women examined at the Venereaklinik in Copenhagen in 1984 and 1988].

Consecutive female patients attending the Copenhagen Venereal Disease Clinic were interviewed about sexual behaviour in 1984 (981 women) and in 1988 (684 women). Details of symptoms, age at coitarche, number of sexual partners, contraceptive methods, and obstetric history were recorded together with the results of the venereological examination. A substantially higher proportion of women used condoms in 1988 (51%) than in 1984 (11%), but otherwise the safe sex campaigns had had a limited effect on the sexual behaviour in this group of women until 1988. The prevalence of gonorrhea decreased significantly (from 22% to 6%, p < 0.01), whereas an increase in the prevalence of genital warts was observed (from 4% to 10%, p < 0.01).