Forced vaginal sex and genital immune correlates of HIV risk: a prospective study of female sex workers in Kenya
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: The likelihood of HIV acquisition is increased following forced vaginal sex. This relates in part to epidemiological and behavioural factors; however, the biological effects of forced vaginal sex, including impacts on immune parameters linked to HIV susceptibility, are poorly understood. Here, we examine biological mediators of HIV susceptibility among female sex workers (FSWs) in Nairobi, Kenya, who recently experienced forced vaginal sex. METHODS: The Maisha Fiti study was a longitudinal cohort study of FSWs from Nairobi, Kenya. At up to three visits, HIV-uninfected participants completed a detailed sociodemographic survey in which they were asked if they had experienced forced vaginal sex in the past 7 days. Proinflammatory cytokines and soluble E-cadherin (sE-cad), a biomarker of epithelial barrier disruption, were quantified in cervico-vaginal secretions by multiplex immunoassay. Associations between recent forced sex and genital inflammation were assessed longitudinally in a mixed-effects regression model adjusted for potential confounders and within-participant correlation. RESULTS: Of the 746 participants, 44 (6%) reported forced vaginal sex in the past 7 days at baseline, with strong evidence of associations with adverse childhood experiences (p<0.001), mental health issues (p<0.001) and poverty (p=0.02). Recent forced sex was associated with increased genital inflammation (adjusted OR (aOR)=2.74; 95% CI 1.33 to 5.68; p<0.01) independent of previously defined confounders but was not associated with altered levels of sE-cad (p=0.56). Neither recent consensual sex (aOR=0.94, 95% CI 0.63 to 1.40, p=0.76) nor forced sex within the past 6 months, excluding the past 7 days (aOR=0.93, 95% CI 1.21 to 5.42, p=0.70), was associated with genital inflammation. CONCLUSIONS: Cervicovaginal inflammation is increased in FSWs for at least a week after forced vaginal sex. This has important implications for HIV prevention programmes that provide care to women experiencing gender-based violence. Further studies are needed to understand the specific timing of proinflammatory cytokine release following forced vaginal sex.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".