2011/08/15 by Eric P. F. Chow, David P. Wilson, Lei Zhang · 113 citations
Medicine · #China #Demography #Environmental health #Geography #HIV, Drug Use, Sexual Risk #HIV/AIDS Research and Interventions #Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) #Immunology #Internal medicine #Medicine #Men who have sex with men #Meta-analysis #Pathology #Public health #Syphilis #Syphilis Diagnosis and Treatment
paper · pdf · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0022768
published in PLoS ONE 6(8), e22768 (Public Library of Science)
openalex publication_date 2011/08/15 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
BACKGROUND: This study aims to estimate the magnitude and changing trends of HIV, syphilis and HIV-syphilis co-infections among men who have sex with men (MSM) in China during 2003-2008 through a systematic review of published literature. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Chinese and English literatures were searched for studies reporting HIV and syphilis prevalence among MSM from 2003 to 2008. The prevalence estimates were summarized and analysed by meta-analyses. Meta-regression was used to identify the potential factors that are associated with high heterogeneities in meta-analysis. Seventy-one eligible articles were selected in this review (17 in English and 54 in Chinese). Nationally, HIV prevalence among MSM increased from 1.3% during 2003-2004 to 2.4% during 2005-2006 and to 4.7% during 2007-2008. Syphilis prevalence increased from 6.8% during 2003-2004 to 10.4% during 2005-2006 and to 13.5% during 2007-2008. HIV-syphilis co-infection increased from 1.4% during 2005-2006 to 2.7% during 2007-2008. Study locations and study period are the two major contributors of heterogeneities of both HIV and syphilis prevalence among Chinese MSM. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: There have been significant increases in HIV and syphilis prevalence among MSM in China. Scale-up of HIV and syphilis screening and implementation of effective public health intervention programs should target MSM to prevent further spread of HIV and syphilis infection.