Reattendance and chlamydia retesting rates at 12 months among young people attending Australian general practice clinics 2007–10: a longitudinal study
Emma R. Weaver A J , Anna L. Bowring A , Rebecca Guy B , Caroline van Gemert A C , Jane S. Hocking D , Douglas I. Boyle E , Tony Merritt F , Clare Heal G , Phyllis M. Lau H , Basil Donovan B I , Margaret E. Hellard A C and on behalf of the ACCESS CollaborationA Centre for Population Health, Burnet Institute, 85 Commercial Road, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia.
B Kirby Institute, Wallace Wurth Building, UNSW Australia, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.
C Department of Epidemiology and Preventative Medicine, Monash University, The Alfred Centre, 99 Commercial Road, Melbourne, Vic. 3004, Australia.
D Centre for Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Melbourne School of Population and Global Health, 207 Bouverie Street, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Vic. 3010, Australia.
E Health Informatics Unit, Rural Health Academic Centre, 49 Graham Street, Melbourne Medical School, University of Melbourne, Shepparton, Vic. 3630, Australia.
F Hunter New England Population Health, Locked bag 10, Wallsend, NSW 2287, Australia.
G General Practice and Rural Medicine, Mackay Base Hospital, Bridge Road, James Cook University, Mackay, Qld 4740, Australia.
H General Practice and Primary Health Care Academic Centre, 200 Berkeley Street, University of Melbourne, Carlton, Vic. 3053, Australia.
I Sydney Sexual Health Centre, Sydney Hospital, Macquarie Street, Sydney, NSW 2001, Australia.
J Corresponding author. Email: eweaver@burnet.edu.au
Sexual Health 11(4) 366-369 https://doi.org/10.1071/SH14079
Submitted: 30 April 2014 Accepted: 25 May 2014 Published: 24 August 2014
Abstract
Background: Clinical guidelines commonly recommend annual chlamydia (Chlamydia trachomatis) testing in young people. General practice (GP) clinics can play an important role in annual testing, as a high proportion of young people attend these clinics annually; however, little is known about the timing of attendance and testing in this setting. Methods: The Australian Collaboration for Coordinated Enhanced Sentinel Surveillance of Sexually Transmitted Infections and Blood-Borne Viruses system extracted consultation and pathology data on 16–29-year-olds attending 25 GP clinics in 2007–10. We calculated the proportion of individuals with an initial negative test that reattended at 12 months (±3 months) and retested at 12 months (±3 months). Individuals with an initial positive test were excluded, as guidelines recommend retesting at 3 months. Results: Among 3852 individuals who had an initial negative test, 2201 (57.1%) reattended at ~12 months; reattendance was higher among females (60.8%) than males (44.1%; P < 0.001) and higher among 16–19-year-olds (64.2%) than 25–29-year-olds (50.8%; P < 0.001). Of 2201 individuals who reattended at 12 months, 377 had a chlamydia test (retesting rate of 9.8%); retesting was higher among females (10.8%) than males (6.1%; P < 0.01) and higher among 16–19-year-olds (13.3%) than 25–29-year-olds (7.5%; P < 0.001). Conclusion: Although over half of young people reattended their GP clinic ~1 year after a negative chlamydia baseline test, only 9.8% were retested at this visit. Strategies are needed to promote regular attendance and testing to both patients and clinicians.
Additional keywords: adolescent, general practitioner, mass screening, young adult.
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