Abstract
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.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | SH23178 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-10 |
| Number of pages | 10 |
| Journal | Sexual Health |
| Volume | 21 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 19 Feb 2024 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Stephanie Munari is supported by a Burnet Institute PhD scholarship, Jane Hocking is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Research Fellowship (GNT1042907), Margaret Hellard is supported by an NHMRC Investigator Grant (GNT1194322) and Eric P. F. Chow is supported by an NHMRC Emerging Investigator Grant (GNT1172873). ACCESS receives core funding from the Australian Department of Health with the aim to monitor Australia’s progress in the control of bloodborne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. In addition, the governments of New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia provide funding for state level outcomes. Funding for particular outcomes is also provided by the Blood Borne Virus & STI Research, Intervention and Strategic Evaluation Program (BRISE), an NHMRC Project Grant (APP1082336), a NHMRC Partnership Grant (GNT1092852), and the Prevention Research Support Program, funded by the New South Wales Ministry of Health. No funding body played a role in the planning, writing or publication of this manuscript. Acknowledgements
Funding Information:
Declaration of funding. Stephanie Munari is supported by a Burnet Institute PhD scholarship, Jane Hocking is supported by a National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Senior Research Fellowship (GNT1042907), Margaret Hellard is supported by an NHMRC Investigator Grant (GNT1194322) and Eric P. F. Chow is supported by an NHMRC Emerging Investigator Grant (GNT1172873). ACCESS receives core funding from the Australian Department of Health with the aim to monitor Australia’s progress in the control of bloodborne viruses and sexually transmitted infections. In addition, the governments of New South Wales, Victoria, and Western Australia provide funding for state level outcomes. Funding for particular outcomes is also provided by the Blood Borne Virus & STI Research, Intervention and Strategic Evaluation Program (BRISE), an NHMRC Project Grant (APP1082336), a NHMRC Partnership Grant (GNT1092852), and the Prevention Research Support Program, funded by the New South Wales Ministry of Health. No funding body played a role in the planning, writing or publication of this manuscript.
Funding Information:
Margaret Hellard receives funding from Gilead Science and Abbvie for investigator–initiated research unrelated to this area of work. Eric Chow is an Associate Editor of Sexual Health. To mitigate this potential conflict of interest they were blinded from the review process. All other authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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