Sexual Networks in Contemporary Western Societies Fredrik Liljeros Karolinska institutet Stockholm...

Preview:

Citation preview

Sexual Networks in Contemporary Western

Societies

Fredrik Liljeros

Karolinska institutet

Stockholm University

(Supported by the Swedish Institute for Public Health)

S-GEM

How is it possible for Sexually transmitted Infections (STI’s) to reproduce themselves when the average reported life number of contacts are as low as 6-12 in western societies?

Why do we have STI’s at all?

S-GEM

Data sources

National surveys

+ Representative

-Validity?

-Low Response rate

-Only ego network data

Clinical data

+ Network data

-Validity?

-Representative?

Local networks

+ Network data

-Validity?

Representative?

Online networks

+ Network data

-Validity?

Representative

S-GEM

Representative

Sample Population

S-GEM

Network data vs ego network data

MaleFemale

?

?

??

?

?

S-GEM

Validity

Women report twice as few partners on average than men do

Find at least five explanations!

Low response rate

S-GEM

Data sources

National surveys

+ Representative

-Validity?

-Low Response rate

-Only ego network data

Clinical data

+ Network data

-Validity?

-Representative?

Local networks

+ Network data

-Validity?

Representative?

Online networks

+ Network data

-Validity?

Representative

S-GEM

Triangulation

S-GEM

Basic epidemiology

S-GEM

Reproduction Rate, R

Average number of contacts * probability for transmission * duration of infectiousness

Low for STIs !

S-GEM

Basic Reproduction Rate, R0

Gottland

S-GEM

Reported HIV infected in Sweden

www.smittskyddsinstitutet.se S-GEM

Reported Chlamydia infected in Sweden

www.smittskyddsinstitutet.se

S-GEM

Explanations for the current situation

Probably no single explanation!

S-GEM

On average, your partners have more partners than you !

8.19

818

k

5.416

8818

partnersk

Newman Social Networks (2003)

May and Anderson Nature (1987)

S-GEM

The Core-Group Theory

”Scale free distribution of partners ”

Liljeros et al Nature (2001)

National survey data S-GEM

Gay men attending a STI clinic in London

Colgate et al PNAS (1989)S-GEM

Internet contact site data

Holme, Edling and Liljeros Social networks 2004

Prefferential attachent?

S-GEM

Concurrency A B

C

D E

AC AB

DC DE

2b.

Contact

network

Line graph

Morris and Kretzchmar Social Networks (1995) S-GEM

Concurrency

A B

C

D E

Contact

network

Line graph

Kretzchmar and Morris Social Networks (1995)

?

S-GEM

Concurrency A B

C

D E

A B

C

D E

AC BC

DC EC

2a.

AC AB

DC DE

2b.

Contact

network

Line graph

Kretzchmar and Morris Social Networks (1995) S-GEM

Assortative interaction

Newman PRL 2002Liljeros Edling and Amaral (2003)

S-GEM

Bearman, Moodey and Stovel Forthcoming in AJS(With permission from P. Bearman)

Local network motifs

S-GEM

Australia

Thailand

USA

Holland

Norway

Spain

England

Greece

Switzerland

231 cases

ÖrebroAustria

Falk et al STI (2003)

Örebro hospital: Local of infection with Chlamydia

S-GEM

Conclusions

• Standard deviation is of high importance

• Contact tracing are likely to be effective

• Targeted interventions

Further reading….

Liljeros F, Edling CR, Amaral LAN ”Sexual networks: implications for the transmission of sexually transmitted infections”

MICROBES INFECT 5 (2): 189-196 FEB 2003 S-GEM

Take home message

Your partners have more partners than you have yourself!

S-GEM

Recommended