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Sampling Methodologies for Epidemiologic Surveillance of Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transgender Women in Latin America: An Empiric Comparison of Convenience Sampling, Time Space Sampling, and Respondent Driven Sampling

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Abstract

Alternatives to convenience sampling (CS) are needed for HIV/STI surveillance of most-at-risk populations in Latin America. We compared CS, time space sampling (TSS), and respondent driven sampling (RDS) for recruitment of men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women (TW) in Lima, Peru. During concurrent 60-day periods from June–August, 2011, we recruited MSM/TW for epidemiologic surveillance using CS, TSS, and RDS. A total of 748 participants were recruited through CS, 233 through TSS, and 127 through RDS. The TSS sample included the largest proportion of TW (30.7 %) and the lowest percentage of subjects who had previously participated in HIV/STI research (14.9 %). The prevalence of newly diagnosed HIV infection, according to participants’ self-reported previous HIV diagnosis, was highest among TSS recruits (17.9 %) compared with RDS (12.6 %) and CS (10.2 %). TSS identified diverse populations of MSM/TW with higher prevalences of HIV/STIs not accessed by other methods.

Resumen

Alternativos al muestreo por conveniencia son necesarios para la vigilancia de VIH/ITS en poblaciones de alto riesgo en Latinoamérica. Hicimos una comparación de Muestreo por Conveniencia (MC), Muestreo de Tiempo y Espacio (TSS) y Muestreo Dirigido por Participante (RDS) para reclutar hombres que tienen sexo con hombres (HSH) y Mujeres Trans en Lima, Perú. Durante periodos concurrentes de 60 días entre Junio y Agosto de 2011, reclutamos HSH y Mujeres Trans para una vigilancia centinela usando MC, TSS, y RDS. En total, reclutamos a 748 participantes por MC, 233 por TSS, y 127 por RDS. El muestreo de TSS contó con la proporción más grande de Mujeres Trans (30.7 %) y el porcentaje más pequeño de sujetos que participaron en investigaciones anteriores de VIH/ITS (14.9 %). La prevalencia de nuevos casos diagnosticados de VIH (según el auto-reporte de los participantes de su historia de VIH) fue más alto en los participantes reclutados por TSS (17.9 %) con respecto a RDS (12.6 %) y MC (10.2 %). TSS identificó a poblaciones de HSH y Mujeres Trans con alta prevalencia de VIH/ITS que no fueron reclutados por los otros métodos.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and CARE Peru (PER-506-G03-H and PER-607-G05-H); the National Institutes of Health (T32 MH080634, P30 MH58107, P30 AI028697, UL1 TR000124, and K23 MH08461); and discretionary core funds from Asociación Civil Impacta Educación y Salud. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the views of the Global Fund, CARE, or the National Institutes of Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Infectious Diseases and Program in Global Health, Department of Medicine, UCLA Geffen School of Medicine, 10833 Leconte Avenue, CHS 37-121, Los Angeles, CA, 90095, USA

    J. L. Clark, K. A. Konda & A. Perez-Brumer

  2. Unidad de Estudios de Sexualidad y Desarollo Humano, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru

    A. Silva-Santisteban

  3. Asociación Civil Impacta Salud y Educación, Lima, Peru

    J. Peinado, J. R. Lama, L. Kusunoki & J. Sanchez

  4. Dirección General de Epidemiología, Ministerio de Salud, Lima, Peru

    M. Pun & L. Suarez-Ognio

  5. Asociación Civil Via Libre, Lima, Peru

    R. Cabello

  6. Estrategia Nacional para el Control de VIH e ITS, Ministerio de Salud, Lima, Peru

    J. L. Sebastian

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  1. J. L. Clark
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  2. K. A. Konda
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  12. J. Sanchez
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Correspondence to J. L. Clark.

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This study was conducted for the Peruvian HIV Surveillance Working Group.

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Clark, J.L., Konda, K.A., Silva-Santisteban, A. et al. Sampling Methodologies for Epidemiologic Surveillance of Men Who Have Sex with Men and Transgender Women in Latin America: An Empiric Comparison of Convenience Sampling, Time Space Sampling, and Respondent Driven Sampling. AIDS Behav 18, 2338–2348 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10461-013-0680-0

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