Table 1.
Sociodemographic and Behavioral Characteristics of 37 Female Sex Workers
| Characteristic | Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Fixed | |||
| HIV negative | 100 (37/37) | ||
| Age, y | 34 (31–39) | ||
| Marital status | |||
| Not married, not living with a man | 69 (25/36) | ||
| Not married, living with a man | 3 (1/36) | ||
| Married, not living with a man | 28 (10/36) | ||
| Self-reported sex work duration, y | 3 (3–10) | ||
| Education duration, y | 10 (8–13) | ||
| Pregnancies, no. | 2 (2–3) | ||
| Ratio of luteal to follicular progesterone levels | 7:1 (5:1 to 15:1) | ||
| Time between visits, d | 14 (13–14) | ||
| Cycle length, d | 27 (25–31) | ||
| Varying | Follicular Phase | Luteal Phase | P |
| Time since last menses, d | 8 (6–9) | 22 (20–24) | <.0001a |
| Reported having a regular sex partner at study visit | 65 (24/37) | 59 (22/37) | .157b |
| Clients in past 7 d, no. | 4 (2–8) | 4 (3–8) | .241a |
| Condom use with clients in past 7 d | .357c | ||
| Never | 0 (0/37) | 5 (2/37) | |
| Sometimes | 32 (12/37) | 30 (11/37) | |
| Always | 68 (25/37) | 65 (24/37) | |
| Detection of PSA (unprotected sex in the past 48 h) | 21 (7/33) | 32 (11/34) | .303c |
| Reported vaginal douching | 34 (12/35) | 22 (8/37) | |
| Presence of yeast infection | 18 (6/33) | 34 (11/32) | |
| Bacterial vaginosis status (Nugent score) | .096c | ||
| Normal (0–3) | 53 (19/36) | 49 (18/37) | |
| Intermediate (4–6) | 25 (9/36) | 27 (10/37) | |
| Bacterial vaginosis (7–10) | 22 (8/36) | 24 (9/37) | |
| Plasma progesterone level, pg/mL | 940 (495–1660) | 7500 (4035–11295) | <.0001a |
| Plasma estradiol level, pg/mL | 130 (55–185) | 240 (140–310) | .003a |
| Genital inflammationd | 28 (9/32) | 22 (7/32) | .480b |
Data are median (interquartile range) or % (no. with characteristic/no. analyzed).
Abbreviations: HIV, human immunodeficiency virus; PSA, prostate-specific antigen.
aBy the paired t test.
bBy the McNemar test for binary variables.
cBy the Fisher exact test.
dGenital inflammation is defined as ≥5 cytokines/chemokines with levels in the upper quartile of the 12 cytokines/chemokines expressed in at least 30% of the participants (CCL2, interleukin 12p70, CCL4, interleukin 17A, CCL3, interleukin 1α, interleukin 1β, CXCL10, interleukin 1 receptor antagonist, CXCL9, CXCL8, and CCL20).