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Assessing Heterogeneity In Meta-Analysis: Q Statistic Or I2 Index?, Tania Huedo-Medina, Julio Sanchez-Meca, Fulgencio Marin-Martinez, Juan Botella

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In meta-analysis, the usual way of assessing whether a set of single studies is homogeneous is by means of the Q test. However, the Q test only informs meta-analysts about the presence versus the absence of heterogeneity, but it does not report on the extent of such heterogeneity. Recently, the I² index has been proposed to quantify the degree of heterogeneity in a meta-analysis. In this article, the performances of the Q test and the confidence interval around the I² index are compared by means of a Monte Carlo simulation. The results show the utility of the I² index as …

Sexual Risk Behaviour Among Hiv-Positive Individuals In Clinical Care In Urban Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, Susan M. Kiene, Sarah Christie, Deborah H. Cornman, William A. Fisher, Paul A. Shuper, Sandy Pillay, Gerald H. Friedland, Jeffrey D. Fisher

CHIP Documents

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and predictors of unprotected sex among HIV+ individuals in clinical care in urban KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Design: Cross-sectional survey of 152 HIV+ individuals attending a hospital-based HIV-clinic.

Methods: Structured interviews were conducted by bilingual interviewers. Sexual risk behaviour in the preceding 3 months was assessed via event counts.

Results: In one of the first studies of its kind in South Africa we found that nearly half of the sample reported vaginal or anal sex during the preceding 3 months, and 30% of these patients reported unprotected vaginal or anal sex. Among sexually active patients, a …