Prácticas de riesgo para infecciones de transmisión sexual en un grupo de mujeres embarazadas y sus parejas

objective: to identify risk and protection factors to acquire sexually transmitted infections (sti's) in pregnant women (and their partners) that attended prenatal care. material and methods: a study of cases and controls made out of pregnant women that had a partner. the cases were women with sti's (confirmed presence of a pathogenic agent) and the controls were women with a negative diagnosis for sti's. the inventory of risk practices and sexual networks was applied through a directive and individual interview, 40 to 120 minutes long. results: 82.4% of the women and 52.6% of the men accepted to participate, of those invited to do so. the group of cases with sti's was made out of 78 women and the control group of 97 women. both in women as well as in men, the antecedent of sti's was a risk factor for presenting an sti once again (women or 27.68 ci 95% 11.69-65.50; men 8.69 ci 95% 2.76-27.31). for women, the practice of oral and/or anal sex turned out to be a risk factor (or 2.21 ci 95% 1.16-4.23 y 2.26 ci 95% 1.08-4.34 respectively). for women the protective factors were: to have a partner (or 0.40 ci 95% 0.45- 0.91), to live in mexico city (or 0.42 ci 95% 0.21-0.81), to have a paid occupation (or 0.50 ci 95% 0.27-0.94) and only one sexual partner (or 0.54 ci 95% 0.29-0.98). conclusions: in women risk factors of sti are having had an sti, having had sexual, oral and/or anal intercourse; while having a partner, a paid occupation and only one sexual partner, are protective factors.