A DGReview of :"Predictors of infection with Trichomonas vaginalis: a prospective study of low income African-American adolescent females." Sexually Transmitted Infections (STI Online) 12/31/2002 By David Loshak African-American adolescent girls who use marijuana are six times more likely to test positive for Trichomonas vaginalis non-users, according to a prospective study of girls in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. Investigators from Rollins School of Public Health and Emory Center for AIDS Research, in Atlanta, Georgia, evaluated 522 African-American girls aged 14-18 years living in low income neighbourhoods of Birmingham, Alabama, using baseline as well as six and 12 month follow-up data from an HIV prevention intervention trial. Participants were required to self-administer vaginal swab specimens to be cultured for T vaginalis. Baseline measures collected as part of a self-administered survey and personal interviews were used to predict subsequent infection with T. vaginalis. Results show that marijuana use was the strongest multivariate predictor of T vaginalis infection (p=0.0003). Other multivariate predictors were reports of having sex partners who are at least five years older (p=0.005), having sex with non-steady partners (p=0.02), and a history of delinquency (p=0.02). T. vaginalis was diagnosed in 12.9 percent of girls at baseline, in 8.9 percent at six months and in 10.2 percent at 12 months. The odds of testing positive increased by 31 percent for every one unit increase on a six item scale measure of delinquency. All the problem behaviours shown by the girls were "potentially amenable to behavioural intervention", the investigators write. Sexually Transmitted Infections 2002;78(5):360-364. "Predictors of infection with Trichomonas vaginalis: a prospective study of low income African-American adolescent females."