Table 1.

Characteristics of young heterosexual patients by sex and backpacker status, 1998–2006 (n=12 958)

Variable	Sub-category	Young heterosexual males			Young heterosexual females
		Non-backpackers (n=3880), %	Backpackers (n=2765), %	p Value	Non-backpackers (n=3376), %	Backpackers (n=2937), %	p Value
Age group (years)	26–30 years	58	44	<0.001	48	37	<0.001
	≤25 years	42	56		52	63
Country of birth	Australia	62	–	–	61	–	–
	England	5	47		4	45	–
	Other	33	55		34	55
Marital status	Married/partner	9	4	<0.001	12	5	<0.001
	Never married	85	94		81	92
	Other	5	2		4	1
Employment status	Employed	80	59	<0.001	78	61	<0.001
	Unemployed	13	27		13	26
	Other	7	14		10	13
Reason for presentation	STI/HIV screen	36	41	<0.001	32	34	0.043
	Known STI contact	5	4	0.105	5	5	0.680
	Ano-genital symptoms	51	49	0.104	42	42	0.997
	Genital herpes or warts	3	3	0.974	3	3	0.311
Cigarette smoking status	Not/past smoker	66	61	<0.001	64	58	<0.001
	Current smoker	34	39		36	42
Hazardous alcohol use*	Yes	5	17	<0.001	14	27	<0.001
	No	95	83		86	73	<0.001
Consistent condom use (past 3 months)	Yes	69	69	0.889	72	69	0.006
	No	31	31		28	31
Number of sex partners (past 3 months)	0	13	10	<0.001	13	10	<0.001
	1	51	41		65	59
	2	20	23		15	20
	3+	15	26		7	11
Sex overseas in last 12 months (and country)	Thailand	9	22	<0.001	4	7	<0.001
	Sex in another country	17	41		17	45
	No sex overseas	74	38		79	48
Past chlamydia diagnosis (self-report)	Yes	10	15	<0.001	9	13	<0.001
	No	90	85		91	87

^*Average alcohol intake of 280 g for men and 140 g for women.

STI, sexually transmissible infection.