Uusküla Anneli, Nygård Jan F, Kibur-Nygård Mari
Department of Public Health, University of Tartu, Ravila str. 19, Tartu 50411, Estonia.
Int J STD AIDS. 2004 Oct;15(10):662-8. doi: 10.1177/095646240401501006.
Increased incidence of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and radical social changes have taken place at the same time in Estonia. Our aim was to study the trends in syphilis incidence, selected sociodemographic factors and health status indicators during the economic transition. Associations were estimated by the ordinary least square regression method for change in and actual values of syphilis and tuberculosis incidence rate (IR), percentage of non-ethnic Estonians and urban population, homicides rate, unemployment rate and, birth rate. The analysis was performed by counties at three different time periods. Syphilis IR significantly correlated with the proportion of non-ethnic Estonians, urban population, tuberculosis IR and birth rate. Change of syphilis IR correlated significantly with concurrent changes in unemployment rate and tuberculosis IR. Our findings support the theory that syphilis is a social disease, thus emphasizing the importance of social factors in the occurrence of STDs.
爱沙尼亚在性传播疾病（STD）发病率上升的同时，也发生了剧烈的社会变革。我们的目的是研究经济转型期间梅毒发病率、选定的社会人口学因素和健康状况指标的趋势。通过普通最小二乘法回归分析，对梅毒和结核病发病率（IR）的变化及实际值、非爱沙尼亚族人口和城市人口的百分比、凶杀率、失业率以及出生率之间的关联进行了评估。分析在三个不同时间段按县进行。梅毒发病率与非爱沙尼亚族人口比例、城市人口、结核病发病率和出生率显著相关。梅毒发病率的变化与失业率和结核病发病率的同期变化显著相关。我们的研究结果支持梅毒是一种社会疾病这一理论，从而强调了社会因素在性传播疾病发生中的重要性。
