Hart Laura, Haamid Fareeda W, Holland-Hall Cynthia, Bonny Andrea E
Internal Medicine/Pediatrics, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, USA.
Adolescent Medicine, Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, USA.
Cureus. 2022 Nov 30;14(11):e32070. doi: 10.7759/cureus.32070. eCollection 2022 Nov.
Background Testing for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) decreased during the early months of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Less is known about the extent to which screening of asymptomatic adolescents for STIs was specifically affected. Our aim was to describe the impacts of early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic on asymptomatic STI screening and overall STI testing among adolescent females aged 13 to 19. We hypothesized that screening would decrease more than overall testing. Methods We evaluated claims data from a pediatric accountable care organization responsible for approximately 40,000 adolescent females. We assessed rates of asymptomatic screening and overall testing for chlamydia and gonorrhea in this population, comparing the early pandemic to pre-pandemic levels. Results Both STI screening and overall STI testing were found to be significantly decreased during the early period of the COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic levels. The proportion of tests billed as screening was 70% of tests for April to August 2020 (early pandemic), compared to 67% for October 2019 to February 2020 and 64% for April to August 2019, contrary to our hypothesis. Conclusion Asymptomatic screening represented a similar proportion of STI testing among this population of adolescent females during the early COVID-19 pandemic compared to pre-pandemic testing. More work is needed to understand how asymptomatic screening was proportionally maintained despite COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
在2019年冠状病毒病(COVID-19)大流行的最初几个月,性传播感染(STIs)检测有所减少。对于无症状青少年性传播感染筛查受到的具体影响程度,人们了解较少。我们的目的是描述COVID-19大流行早期阶段对13至19岁青春期女性无症状性传播感染筛查和总体性传播感染检测的影响。我们假设筛查减少的幅度会超过总体检测。方法:我们评估了一家负责约40,000名青春期女性的儿科责任医疗组织的理赔数据。我们评估了该人群中衣原体和淋病的无症状筛查率和总体检测率,并将大流行早期与大流行前水平进行比较。结果:与大流行前水平相比,在COVID-19大流行早期,性传播感染筛查和总体性传播感染检测均显著减少。2020年4月至8月(大流行早期)记为筛查的检测比例为70%,而2019年10月至2020年2月为67%,2019年4月至8月为64%,这与我们的假设相反。结论:在COVID-19大流行早期,与大流行前检测相比,无症状筛查在该青春期女性人群的性传播感染检测中所占比例相似。尽管有COVID-19大流行限制,仍需开展更多工作来了解无症状筛查是如何按比例维持的。