Male circumcision, religion, and infectious diseases: an ecologic analysis of 118 developing countries

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 4 Multivariate linear regression models of HIV prevalence (/100,000 adults) among developing countries.¹

	Sub-Saharan African countries with heterosexual contact as primary mode of HIV transmission				Non-Sub-Saharan African countries with heterosexual contact as primary mode of HIV transmission				Non-Sub-Saharan African countrieswith homosexual contact or injection-drug use as primary mode of HIV transmission
	No. of countries	Regression coefficient	p-value	R ²	No. of countries	Regression coefficient	p-value	R ²	No. of countries	Regression coefficient	p-value	R ²
Unadjusted regression model	35			0.68	24			0.70	32			0.49
Percent of population Muslim		-0.013	0.023			0.031	0.02			0.021	0.51
Percent of population Christian		0.0015	0.84			0.021	0.04			0.017	0.003
Male circumcision prevalence²		-0.61	<0.001			-2.19	<0.001			-1.26	0.35
Adjusted regression model ³	27			0.85	22			0.72	23			0.73
Percent of population Muslim		-0.011	0.026			0.014	0.19			-0.036	0.26
Percent of population Christian		-0.0044	0.48			0.0011	0.94			0.015	0.15
Male circumcision prevalence²		-0.82	0.001			-1.60	0.001			0.47	0.70

¹ Analyses conducted with natural log of HIV seroprevalence.
² Male circumcision prevalence was coded as 1 = low (<20%), 2 = intermediate (20–80%), and 3 = high (>80%).
³ Model adjusted by country-specific measures including years since HIV was first reported, major geographical region, percent of population younger than age 25, percent of female adult illiteracy rate, percent of children fully immunized for diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, and number of doctors per 100,000 people.

ISSN: 1471-2334