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

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 HIV infection during heterosexual intercourse applies to populations both within and outside Africa. The debate engineered by MC opponents, and led by Van Howe, now appears to have run its course. The scientific evidence has prevailed.