Sampling studies to estimate the HIV prevalence rate in female commercial sex workers.
BACKGROUND
We investigated sampling methods being used to estimate the HIV prevalence rate among female commercial sex workers.


METHODS
The studies were classified according to the adequacy or not of the sample size to estimate HIV prevalence rate and according to the sampling method (probabilistic or convenience).


RESULTS
We identified 75 studies that estimated the HIV prevalence rate among female sex workers. Most of the studies employed convenience samples. The sample size was not adequate to estimate HIV prevalence rate in 35 studies.


CONCLUSIONS
The use of convenience sample limits statistical inference for the whole group. It was observed that there was an increase in the number of published studies since 2005, as well as in the number of studies that used probabilistic samples. This represents a large advance in the monitoring of risk behavior practices and HIV prevalence rate in this group.
Pascom
Ana Roberta Pati
AR
Brazilian Departament of STD, AIDS and Viral Hepatitis, Ministério da Saúde, Brazil. ana.roberta@aids.gov.br
Szwarcwald
Célia Landmann
CL
Barbosa Júnior
Aristides
A
D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D015995:Prevalence; D012494:Sampling Studies; D011477:Sex Work / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*