title: Assessing differences in groups randomized by recruitment chain in a respondent-driven sample of Seattle-area injection drug users.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Respondent-driven sampling (RDS) is a form of peer-based study recruitment and analysis that incorporates features designed to limit and adjust for biases in traditional snowball sampling. It is being widely used in studies of hidden populations. We report an empirical evaluation of RDS's consistency and variability, comparing groups recruited contemporaneously, by identical methods and using identical survey instruments.
  
  
  METHODS
  We randomized recruitment chains from the RDS-based 2012 National HIV Behavioral Surveillance survey of injection drug users in the Seattle area into two groups and compared them in terms of sociodemographic characteristics, drug-associated risk behaviors, sexual risk behaviors, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status and HIV testing frequency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The two groups differed in five of the 18 variables examined (P ≤ .001): race (e.g., 60% white vs. 47%), gender (52% male vs. 67%), area of residence (32% downtown Seattle vs. 44%), an HIV test in the previous 12 months (51% vs. 38%). The difference in serologic HIV status was particularly pronounced (4% positive vs. 18%). In four further randomizations, differences in one to five variables attained this level of significance, although the specific variables involved differed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found some material differences between the randomized groups. Although the variability of the present study was less than has been reported in serial RDS surveys, these findings indicate caution in the interpretation of RDS results.
authors.affiliation: HIV/STD Program, Public Health-Seattle & King County, Seattle, WA. Electronic address: richard.burt@kingcounty.gov.
authors.forename: Richard D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Burt
authors.affiliation: HIV/STD Program, Public Health-Seattle & King County, Seattle, WA.
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Thiede
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D055030:Drug Users / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D011897:Random Allocation; D012107:Research Design; D012111:Residence Characteristics; D012309:Risk-Taking; D012737:Sex Factors; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015819:Substance Abuse, Intravenous / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D014861:Washington; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: HIV; IDU; Respondent-driven sampling