Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29708084›Full record

ArticleEpidemiology and infection2018

Age bias in survey sampling and implications for estimating HIV prevalence in men who have sex with men: insights from mathematical modelling.

L F Johnson, P Mulongeni, A Marr, T Lane

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Article in Epidemiology and infection, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

L F JohnsonCentre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research,University of Cape Town,South Africa.ORCID 0000-0002-2717-011X
P MulongeniDesmond Tutu HIV Centre,Institute for Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine,University of Cape Town,South Africa.
A MarrInstitute for Global Health Sciences,University of California San Francisco,USA.
T LaneInstitute for Global Health Sciences,University of California San Francisco,USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is widely used to estimate HIV prevalence in men who have sex with men (MSM). Mathematical models that are calibrated to these data may be compromised if they fail to account for selection biases in RDS surveys. To quantify the potential extent of this bias, an agent-based model of HIV in South Africa was calibrated to HIV prevalence and sexual behaviour data from South African studies of MSM, first reweighting the modelled MSM population to match the younger age profile of the RDS surveys (age-adjusted analysis) and then without reweighting (unadjusted analysis). The model estimated a median HIV prevalence in South African MSM in 2015 of 34.6% (inter-quartile range (IQR): 31.4-37.2%) in the age-adjusted analysis, compared with 26.1% (IQR: 24.1-28.4%) in the unadjusted analysis. The median lifetime risk of acquiring HIV in exclusively homosexual men was 88% (IQR: 82-92%) in the age-adjusted analysis, compared with 76% (IQR: 64-85%) in the unadjusted analysis. These results suggest that RDS studies may under-estimate the exceptionally high HIV prevalence rates in South African MSM because of over-sampling of younger MSM. Mathematical models that are calibrated to these data need to control for likely over-sampling of younger MSM.

Indexed as

AdolescentAdultBiasHIV InfectionsHomosexuality, MaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedModels, TheoreticalPrevalenceSampling StudiesSouth AfricaYoung AdultHIV incidencemathematical modellingMen who have sex with menSouth Africa

Identifiers

PMID29708084
PMCPMC9184957

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.