TY - JOUR
T1 - Chlamydia retesting remains low among young women in Australia
T2 - an observational study using sentinel surveillance data, 2018–2022
AU - Munari, Stephanie C.
AU - Wilkinson, Anna L.
AU - Asselin, Jason
AU - Owen, Louise
AU - Read, Phillip
AU - Finlayson, Robert
AU - Martin, Sarah
AU - Bell, Charlotte
AU - O’Connor, Catherine C.
AU - Carter, Allison
AU - Guy, Rebecca
AU - McNulty, Anna
AU - Varma, Rick
AU - Chow, Eric P.F.
AU - Fairley, Christopher K.
AU - Donovan, Basil
AU - Stoove, Mark
AU - Goller, Jane L.
AU - Hocking, Jane
AU - Hellard, Margaret E.
AU - Aung, Htein Linn
AU - Dimech, Wayne
AU - Apostolellis, Alexis
AU - Cogle, Aaron
AU - Quinn, Brendan
AU - Bradley, Clare
AU - Coase, Daniel
AU - Heath-Paynter, Dash
AU - Lewis, David
AU - Nolan, David
AU - Huddy, Edward
AU - Sanguineti, Emma
AU - Douglas, Florin
AU - Amin, Janaki
AU - Davies, Jane
AU - Doumany, Jess
AU - Bastian, Lisa
AU - Charleton, Mandy
AU - Gunathilake, Manoji
AU - Campbell, Megan
AU - Pony, Mish
AU - Alliance, Scarlet
AU - Roth, Norm
AU - Cunningham, Philip
AU - Rees, Tom
AU - Baillie, Greta
AU - Nguyen, Thi
AU - Polkinghorne, Victoria
AU - Traeger, Michael
AU - Watson, Nyssa
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 CSIRO. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024/2/19
Y1 - 2024/2/19
N2 - Background. Chlamydia remains the most notified bacterial sexually transmissible infection in Australia with guidelines recommending testing for re-infection at 3 months post treatment. This paper aimed to determine chlamydia retesting and repeat positivity rates within 2–4 months among young women in Australia, and to evaluate what factors increase or decrease the likelihood of retesting. Methods. Chlamydia retesting rates among 16–29-year-old women were analysed from Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance of sexually transmissible infection and bloodborne virus (ACCESS) sentinel surveillance data (n = 62 sites). Among women with at least one positive test between 1 January 2018 and 31 August 2022, retesting counts and proportions within 2–4 months were calculated. Logistic regression was performed to assess factors associated with retesting within 2–4 months. Results. Among 8758 women who were positive before 31 August 2022 to allow time for follow up, 1423 (16.2%) were retested within 2–4 months, of whom 179 (12.6%) tested positive. The odds of retesting within 2–4 months were 25% lower if tested in a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-9) pandemic year (2020–2022) (aOR = 0.75; 95% CI 0.59–0.95). Among 9140 women with a positive test before 30 November 2022, 397 (4.3%) were retested too early (within 7 days to 1 month) and 81 (20.4%) of those were positive. Conclusions. Chlamydia retesting rates remain low with around a sixth of women retested within 2–4 months in line with guidelines. Re-infection is common with around one in eight retesting positive. An increase in retesting is required to reduce the risk of reproductive complications and onward transmission.
AB - Background. Chlamydia remains the most notified bacterial sexually transmissible infection in Australia with guidelines recommending testing for re-infection at 3 months post treatment. This paper aimed to determine chlamydia retesting and repeat positivity rates within 2–4 months among young women in Australia, and to evaluate what factors increase or decrease the likelihood of retesting. Methods. Chlamydia retesting rates among 16–29-year-old women were analysed from Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance of sexually transmissible infection and bloodborne virus (ACCESS) sentinel surveillance data (n = 62 sites). Among women with at least one positive test between 1 January 2018 and 31 August 2022, retesting counts and proportions within 2–4 months were calculated. Logistic regression was performed to assess factors associated with retesting within 2–4 months. Results. Among 8758 women who were positive before 31 August 2022 to allow time for follow up, 1423 (16.2%) were retested within 2–4 months, of whom 179 (12.6%) tested positive. The odds of retesting within 2–4 months were 25% lower if tested in a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-9) pandemic year (2020–2022) (aOR = 0.75; 95% CI 0.59–0.95). Among 9140 women with a positive test before 30 November 2022, 397 (4.3%) were retested too early (within 7 days to 1 month) and 81 (20.4%) of those were positive. Conclusions. Chlamydia retesting rates remain low with around a sixth of women retested within 2–4 months in line with guidelines. Re-infection is common with around one in eight retesting positive. An increase in retesting is required to reduce the risk of reproductive complications and onward transmission.
KW - chlamydia
KW - primary care
KW - re-infection
KW - retesting
KW - sexual health
KW - sexually transmissible infection
KW - surveillance
KW - women
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85187164248&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1071/SH23178
DO - 10.1071/SH23178
M3 - Article
SN - 1448-5028
VL - 21
JO - Sexual Health
JF - Sexual Health
IS - 2
M1 - SH23178
ER -