MONDAY, Feb. 27, 2012 (HealthDay News) — An analysis of data from 50 studies across 14 countries finds that errors in using condoms are common and could contribute to unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted infections.
Stephanie Sanders and colleagues at The Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction at Indiana University looked at 16 years of data on the issue, mainly from the United States and Britain.
They found that:
Between 17 and 51 percent of people put condoms on partway during intercourse (dangerous because fluids can be exchanged prior to ejaculation). Between 13 percent and 45 percent of respondents said they took a condom off before intercourse had finished.
Between one-quarter and one-half of respondents said they failed to leave enough room at the tip of the condom for semen to collect.
75 percent of men and 82 percent of women failed to check condoms for damage prior to use.
Condom breakages occurred for between about 1 percent and 41 percent of respondents, depending on the study, and between about 13 and 19 percent said they had experienced condom slippage.
Between 4 percent and just over 30 percent of participants said they had put a condom on inside-out, then flipped it the other way around, potentially upping the risk for transmission of bodily fluids.
Between 2 percent and 11 percent of people opened condom packets with a sharp object or somehow exposed the condom to rips/tears. Between 1 percent and 3 percent of respondents said they had re-used a condom during a sexual encounter.
The findings were reported in the journal Sexual Health.