Chlamydia & Gonorrhea Rates

Since HIV in Maine is most frequently transmitted by MSM, it seemed probable that the rates of other sexually transmitted diseases, such as chlamydia and gonorrhea, would be significantly positively correlated with AIDS rates (see gonorrhea map and chlamydia map). 

 In order to be considered significant at an α-level of .05, with 15 degrees of freedom (df = n-2), r must be greater than .482 (see correlation table 1).  Surprisingly, the correlational analysis of all 17 select Maine cities and towns revealed an insignificant negative correlation between AIDS rates and chlamydia rates (r = -.02), oddly suggesting that cities/towns with higher chlamydia rates in Maine tend to have lower AIDS rates and vice versa.  Likewise, the correlation between AIDS rates and gonorrhea rates also proved to be insignificant (r = .41) at the α =.05 level (see the table below).  However, once again, upon closer analysis of the scatter plots, Ogunquit was an extreme outlier (see the scatter plots below).  When this town was removed from the statistical analysis, the correlation between gonorrhea rates and AIDS rates, as well as the correlation between chlamydia rates and AIDS rates both became significant at the α = .05 level (see correlation table 2).  Specifically, the r-value for chlamydia rates and AIDS rates increased to .54, while the r-value for gonorrhea rates and AIDS rates increased to .60.