Reply to Letter by Dr. Christoph Kupferschmid: Commentary on "Countries with high circumcision prevalence have lower prostate cancer mortality"

Wachtel, Mitchell S.; Yang, Shengping; Morris, Brian J.

doi:10.4103/1008-682x.184997

Asian J Androl

2016

DOI: 10.4103/1008-682x.184997

|View full text |Cite

Reply to Letter by Dr. Christoph Kupferschmid: Commentary on "Countries with high circumcision prevalence have lower prostate cancer mortality"

Mitchell S. Wachtel

Shengping Yang

Brian J. Morris

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...

Citation Types

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Year Published

2017

Publication Types

Select...

Article1

Relationship

Self Cite0

Independent1

Authors

Journals

Cited by 1 publication

References 14 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

Expertise and Ideology in Statistical Evaluation of Circumcision for Protection against HIV Infection

Morris¹,

Barboza²,

Wamai³

et al. 2017

WJA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Aim: To critically evaluate data and arguments by Van Howe defending his stance opposing male circumcision (MC), in particular his meta-regression analyses evaluating the ability of MC to reduce HIV infection risk in heterosexual populations within and outside Africa. Methods: We performed metaregression analysis of log odds of HIV infection between uncircumcised and circumcised men using a single covariate (MC prevalence) in the meta-regression model involving the metareg package in STATA 13 for 103 populations worldwide and for populations within Africa. The meta-regression of log odds and MC prevalence was fitted to a line, as were empirical Bayes estimates resulting from post-estimation. Results: Our critical evaluation of Van Howe's arguments attempting to undermine the scientific evidence in support of the benefits of MC in protection of men against HIV during heterosexual intercourse, as well as other infections and conditions, together with his use of statistics to support his beliefs, revealed serious flaws, obfuscation and missing data. We therefore performed our own meta-regression analysis using a trivariate model. Doing so revealed that for MC prevalences of 50%, 75% and 100% for general populations within Africa, odds ratios for HIV risk in uncircumcised vs. circumcised men were 1.35, 1.58 and 1.85, respectively. Our meta-regression analysis of data for all countries yielded similar findings. For a general population outside Africa with 100% MC prevalence, OR was 1.5. Van Howe failed to acknowledge that since MC prevalence in US whites (91%) and blacks (76%) exceeds 75% his results support MC having a protective effect in those population groups. Conclusions: The protective effect of MC against How to cite this paper: Morris, B

show abstract

Expertise and Ideology in Statistical Evaluation of Circumcision for Protection against HIV Infection

Morris¹,

Barboza²,

Wamai³

et al. 2017

WJA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

customersupport@researchsolutions.com

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

Reply to Letter by Dr. Christoph Kupferschmid: Commentary on "Countries with high circumcision prevalence have lower prostate cancer mortality"

Cited by 1 publication

References 14 publications

Expertise and Ideology in Statistical Evaluation of Circumcision for Protection against HIV Infection

Expertise and Ideology in Statistical Evaluation of Circumcision for Protection against HIV Infection

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About