Decreasing seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 in Germany leaves many people susceptible to genital infection: time to raise awareness and enhance control

Korr, Gerit; Thamm, Michael; Czogiel, Irina; Poethko-Mueller, Christina; Bremer, Viviane; Jansen, Klaus

doi:10.1186/s12879-017-2527-1

Table 2 Associations between variables and HSV1 seropositivity in men, Germany 2008–2011

From: Decreasing seroprevalence of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 in Germany leaves many people susceptible to genital infection: time to raise awareness and enhance control

Variables	N	Weighted^a prevalence %	(95% CI)	Univariable Analysis		Multivariable Analysis
Variables	N	Weighted^a prevalence %	(95% CI)	PR^b (95% CI)	p-value	PR^c (95% CI)	p-value
Age group (years)
18–24	289	42.2	(35.8–48.9)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
25–34	364	64.5	(58.4–70.2)	1.5 (1.3–1.8)	0.000	1.5 (1.2–1.8)	0.000
35–44	448	72.8	(67.1–77.9)	1.7 (1.5–2.0)	0.000	1.7 (1.4–2.0)	0.000
45–54	627	81.2	(77.1–84.6)	1.9 (1.6–2.3)	0.000	1.9 (1.6–2.2)	0.000
55–64	559	85.9	(81.8–89.2)	2.0 (1.7–2.4)	0.000	2.0 (1.7–2.3)	0.000
65+	899	90.6	(87.5–92.9)	2.1 (1.8–2.5)	0.000	1.9 (1.6–2.3)	0.000
CASMIN educational classification
Low	1045	85.2	(82.2–87.7)	1.2 (1.1–1.3)	0.000	1.2 (1.1–1.2)	0.000
Medium	1407	69.7	(66.4–72.8)	1.0 (0.9–1.1)	0.967	1.1 (1.0–1.2)	0.062
High	714	69.8	(65.0–74.2)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
Income
Low	855	79.1	(75.6–82.2)	Ref	Ref	−	−
Medium	1837	74.2	(71.6–76.6)	0.9 (0.9–1.0)	0.015	−	−
High	494	72.3	(67.1–76.9)	0.9 (0.8–1.0)	0.022	−	−
Employment situation
Worker	1109	80.2	(77.0–83.0)	1.1 (1.0–1.2)	0.004	−	−
Employee	1033	73.2	(69.4–76.8)	Ref	Ref	−	−
Civil servant	224	76.2	(68.3–82.6)	1.0 (0.9–1.2)	0.462	−	−
Free-lance/self-reliant	394	78.6	(72.0–84.0)	1.1 (1.0-1.2)	0.133	−	−
Family worker	6	100.0		1.4 (1.3–1.4)	0.002	−	−
Other	93	48.0	(35.7–60.5)	0.7 (0.5–0.9)	0.000	−	−
Smoking, currently
Daily	706	76.1	(72.0–79.8)	1.1 (1.0–1.2)	0.040	1.1 (1.0–1.1)	0.060
Occasionally	201	74.0	(65.4–81.1)	1.0 (0.9–1.2)	0.440	1.1 (1.0–1.3)	0.013
No, not anymore	1181	79.5	(76.2–82.4)	1.1 (1.1–1.2)	0.000	1.0 (0.9–1.1)	0.985
Never smoked	1081	70.6	(66.7–74.2)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
Number of other children in household during childhood
0	341	70.0	(63.5–75.7)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
1–2	1323	64.8	(61.7–67.7)	0.9 (0.8-1.0)	0.127	0.9 (0.9–1.0)	0.184
> 2	1522	88.1	(86.0–90.0)	1.3 (1.1–1.4)	0.000	1.1 (1.0–1.2)	0.039
Visit of nursery during childhood
No	726	80.5	(76.8–83.7)	Ref	Ref	−	−
Yes	152	67.1	(64.1–70.0)	1.2 (1.1–1.3)	0.000	−	−
Degree of urbanization
Rural	636	77.2	(73.2–80.7)	Ref	Ref	−	−
Provincial	799	77.3	(73.3–80.8)	1.0 (0.9–1.1)	0.974	−	−
Urban	866	72.8	(68.8–76.4)	0.9 (0.9-1.0)	0.105	−	−
Metropolitan	885	75.3	(71.6–78.8)	1.0 (0.9–1.0)	0.490	−	−
Region of residence
West Germany	2151	74.6	(72.3–76.7)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
East Germany (including Berlin)	1035	78.4	(74.5–81.9)	1.1 (1.0-1.1)	0.075	1.1 (1.0–1.1)	0.003
German mother tongue
Yes	2952	73.8	(71.7–75.8)	Ref	Ref	Ref	Ref
No	208	86.7	(79.6–91.6)	1.2 (1.1–1.3)	0.000	1.2 (1.1–1.3)	0.000
Number of sexual partners in last 12 months
None	632	74.1	(68.6–78.9)	1.0 (0.9–1.0)	0.414	−	−
1	2113	76.4	(74.0–78.6)	Ref	Ref	−	−
2–3	205	65.2	(57.1–72.5)	0.9 (0.7–1.0)	0.012	−	−
> 3	98	68.8	(57.0–78.6)	0.9 (0.8-1.1)	0.193	−	−
HSV2 serostatus
HSV2 seronegative	2221	74.8	(72.5–76.9)	Ref	Ref	−	−
HSV2 seropositive	207	77.4	(69.6–83.6)	1.0 (0.9–1.1)	0.472	−	−
Use of condoms
Generally	398	59.3	(53.7–64.7)	Ref	Ref	−	−
Occasionally	400	67.5	(61.6–73.0)	1.1 (1.0-1.3)	0.034	−	−
No	1881	78.0	(77.3–82.4)	1.3 (1.2–1.5)	0.000	−	−
N/a	372	79.1	(72.6–84.3)	1.3 (1.2–1.5)	0.000	−	−

In italics: PR is statistically significant (p < 0.05)
^aWe used survey weights to account for deviations of the survey sample from the sampling parameters (i.e. age, sex, region, urban/rural region, community size, citizenship and education)
^bIf a p-value was <0.2 in the univariable analysis, we included that variable in a stepwise forward variable selection to find a suitable multivariable model
^cAdjusted prevalence rates (PR) of variables which stayed in the final model (p-value ≤0.05) are reported

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