Demographic characteristics and behaviours of participants in the two rounds of the biobehavioural survey of FSWs in Iran
| Variables | 2010 survey (n=745)† | 2015 survey (n=1337) | P value* |
| Age group | 0.002 | ||
| <25 | 24.3 (17.0 to 33.5)‡ | 10.3 (7 to 14.8) | |
| ≥25 | 75.7 (66.5 to 83.0) | 89.7 (85.2 to 93) | |
| Mean age | 31.6 (29.7 to 33.6) | 35.4 (33.9 to 36.8) | 0.001 |
| Highest educational level | 0.372 | ||
| Illiterate | 14.7 (8.8 to 23.4) | 10.0 (7.6 to 13.1) | |
| Primary or below | 30.1 (21.8 to 39.8) | 27.9 (22.2 to 34.4) | |
| Middle or high school | 51.0 (40.5 to 61.5) | 55.7 (50.3 to 61) | |
| College and above | 4.2 (1.9 to 9.7) | 6.4 (4.2 to 9.6) | |
| Current marital status | <0.001 | ||
| Single | 19.8 (12.6 to 29.7) | 6.3 (4.2 to 9.4) | |
| Married | 35.9 (25.6 to 47.8) | 33.0 (25.8 to 41.1) | |
| Divorced/widowed | 33.9 (27.6 to 41.0) | 45.3 (38.4 to 52.4) | |
| Temporarily married (Sigheh) | 10.4 (6.8 to 15.4) | 15.4 (12.4 to 19.1) | |
| Received free male condom in the last year | 0.110 | ||
| Yes | 63.6 (50.8 to 74.7) | 74.4 (64.8 to 82.1) | |
| No | 36.4 (25.3 to 49.2) | 25.6 (17.9 to 35.2) | |
| Frequency of male condom use with all sex partners in the last month | 0.595 | ||
| Never | 29.5 (20.6 to 40.4) | 23.7 (15.4, 34.7) | |
| Occasionally | 44.4 (36.6 to 52.4) | 50.0 (42.7 to 57.4) | |
| Always | 26.1 (18.0 to 36.2) | 26.3 (20.4 to 33.1) | |
| Age at first sex work debut | 0.195 | ||
| <15 | 3.0 (1.6 to 5.4) | 2.2 (1.4 to 3.7) | |
| 15–19 | 23.0 (16.5 to 31.2) | 16.7 (11.5 to 23.7) | |
| 20–24 | 28.6 (24.0 to 33.5) | 26.9 (22.6 to 31.8) | |
| 25+ | 45.4 (35.21 to 56.1) | 54.1 (46.2 to 61.8) | |
| Number of clients in the last month | 0.158 | ||
| 0 | 29.1 (20.2 to 40.1) | 22.5 (13.9 to 34.3) | |
| 1 | 24.3 (19.1 to 30.3) | 14.2 (9.4 to 20.8) | |
| 2–5 | 18.0 (12.7 to 42.8) | 33.4 (24.9 to 43.0) | |
| 6+ | 28.6 (19.1 to 40.6) | 30.0 (17.2 to 46.9) | |
| Number of non-paying sex partner in the last month | 0.016 | ||
| 0 | 51.5 (40.2 to 62.7) | 47.6 (39 to 56.4) | |
| 1 | 20.1 (16.3 to 24.6) | 40.5 (33.1 to 48.3) | |
| 2–5 | 25.5 (17.0 to 36.3) | 11.2 (5.7 to 20.7) | |
| 6+ | 2.9 (1.2 to 6.6) | 0.8 (0.1 to 5.9) | |
| Lifetime non-injection drug use | 0.112 | ||
| Yes | 71.6 (59.5 to 81.3) | 59.8 (47.1 to 71.4) | |
| No | 28.4 (18.7 to 40.5) | 40.2 (28.6 to 52.9) | |
| Lifetime injection drug use | 0.003 | ||
| Yes | 14.6 (10.1 to 20.6) | 6.1 (4.4 to 8.4) | |
| No | 85.4 (79.4 to 89.9) | 93.9 (91.6 to 95.6) |
*P values are for tests to compare the distribution of variables between the two rounds.
†Out of 1005 FSWs who participated in the survey, 745 had confirmed HIV test results.
‡Estimates are expressed as % (95% CIs), unless otherwise specified.
FSWs, female sex workers.