Evaluation of sexual networks as a cause for disparate HIV prevalence between blacks and whites: more questions than answers.

摘要

We read with great interest findings from the second round of the National Behavioral Surveillance System's NHBS among Men Who Have Sex With Men (NHBS-MSM2), which was conducted to better understand disparities in HIV infection between black and white MSM in the United States [1]. Specifically, the aim of this study was to assess several hypotheses about the cause of marked racial disparities among MSM [2], and of particular interest to our group, those related to sexual networks. We raise two major aspects of the described study that require additional consideration: sampling limitations that distort network characterization; and intranetwork mixing patterns as an explanation for the disparities between white and black MSM.