TITLE:
The Prevalence of Syphilis Is Associated with the Prevalence of Male Point-Concurrency: An Ecological Analysis
AUTHORS:
Chris Richard Kenyon, Kara Osbak
KEYWORDS:
Concurrency, Sexual Network, HIV, Syphilis
JOURNAL NAME:
World Journal of AIDS,
Vol.5 No.2,
June
24,
2015
ABSTRACT: Objective: The prevalence of syphilis
differs considerably between different populations and indi-vidual level risk
factors such as number of sex partners seem unable to completely explain these
differences. The effect of network level factors, such as the prevalence of
partner concurrency, on syphilis prevalence has not hitherto been investigated.
Study design: Linear regression was per-formed to assess the relationship
between the prevalence of male concurrency and prevalence of syphilis in each
of 11 countries for which we could obtain comparable data. The data for
concur-rency prevalence was taken from the WHO/Global Programme on AIDS (GPA)
sexual behavioural surveys. Syphilis prevalence rates were obtained from
antenatal syphilis serology surveys done in the same countries. In addition, we
used linear regression to assess if there was a relationship between syphilis
and concurrency prevalence of various racial and ethnic groups within the
United States and South Africa. Results: In the international study, we found a
strong relationship between the prevalence of male concurrency and syphilis
prevalence (r = 0.79, P = 0.003). In the subnational studies, the relationship
between concurrency and syphilis prevalence was positive in all cases but was
only statistically significant so in the case of South Africa’s racial groups
(r = 0.98, P = 0.01). Conclusions: The findings of an ecological-level
association between syphilis and partner concurrency need to be replicated but
suggest that efforts directed towards decreasing partner concurrency may reduce
syphilis prevalence.