What do you get when you fall in love?: Warehouse Youth Health Centre chlamydia audit.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the chlamydia audit was to determine the rate of positive diagnosis of chlamydia trachomatis in young people aged 12 to 25 years of age who were tested at the Warehouse Youth Health Centre, Sydney, Australia, in 2001 and to review current practice relating to chlamydia testing.

DESIGN

A retrospective study was conducted on the medical records of clients identified through the pathology register as having a chlamydia test during 2001 from 1 January to 31 December 2001. The data were descriptively analysed.

SETTING

The Warehouse Youth Health Centre, an FPA (Family Planning Australia) Health service which targets young people in Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

RESULTS

Chlamydia tests were performed on 194 clients at the Warehouse Youth Health Centre in 2001. Tests were performed on 179 (92.3%) female and 15 (7.7%) male clients. The overall positivity rate was 8.8% (17/194). Of the positive chlamydia tests 82.4% (14/17) were female clients and 17.6% (3/17) were male clients. The most common reasons for the clinician or client requesting the chlamydia tests were because the client was symptomatic, had unprotected sexual intercourse or had multiple partners.

CONCLUSION

The major recommendation from this audit is for chlamydia screening for all sexually active young people under the age of 25 years.