CIRIS was a longitudinal study of Australian women aged 16 to 25 years recruited from primary health care clinics.
This study explored the prevalence of chlamydia in young people in rural and metropolitan areas. We recruited young people from general practice settings across rural, regional and metropolitan Australia. Participants completed a questionnaire and were tested for chlamydia.
Of 4284 participants, 197 tested positive for chlamydia (5%). Prevalence was similar in men (5%) and women (4%). Prevalence was high in those reporting genital symptoms or a partner with a sexually transmissible infection (STI). In men with symptoms, 17% had chlamydia compared to 10% of women with symptoms.
Nearly three-quarters of chlamydia cases (73%) were found in patients with no symptoms attending the general practice for non-sexual health reasons. Chlamydia prevalence was slightly higher in participants from rural and regional areas than those from metropolitan areas.
This study demonstrated that testing only those with genital symptoms or a partner with an STI would have missed three-quarters of cases. Most men and women are open to being tested for chlamydia in a general practice setting, even in rural and regional areas.
We also looked at how common it was for young women to be reinfected with chlamydia. We found that chlamydia is common among young women. A high proportion of women are reinfected within a short period of time. This highlights the need for effective partner treatment and repeat testing.
We also looked at the effectiveness of methods used to retain study participants. 79% of the women completed the final stage of the study after 12 months. We found that the methods used were considered effective for recruiting and retaining women in the study.
We also compared the experiences of women testing positive or negative for chlamydia. We found that women who tested positive were less concerned about having a positive result than women who tested negative anticipated they might be.
Publications
Chlamydia trachomatis incidence and re-infection among young women - behavioural and microbiological characteristics
Walker J, Tabrizi SN, Fairley CK, Chen MY, Bradshaw CS, Twin J, Taylor N, Donovan B, Kaldor JM, McNamee K, Urban E, Walker S, Currie M, Birden H, Bowden F, Gunn J, Pirotta M, Gurrin L, Harindra V, Garland SM, Hocking JS.
(2012), PLOS ONE,
Maximising retention in a longitudinal study of genital Chlamydia trachomatis among young women in Australia
Walker J, Fairley CK, Urban E, Chen MY, Bradshaw CS Walker S, Donovan B, Tabrizi SN, McNamee K, Currie M, Pirotta M, Kaldor JK, Gurrin LC, Birden H, Harindra V, Bowden F, Garland SM, Gunn J, Hocking JS
(2011), BMC Public Health,
What do young women think about having a chlamydia test? Views of women who tested positive compared with women who tested negative.
Walker J, Walker S, Fairley CK, Bilardi J, Chen MY, Bradshaw CS, Urban E, Pirotta M, Donovan B, Kaldor J, Gunn J, Hocking JS, Hocking JS.
(2013), Sexual Health,
DOI: 10.1071/SH12019
Chlamydia trachomatis prevalence in young people attending primary care services in rural and regional Australia: a cross-sectional survey
Yeung AH, Temple-Smith M, Fairley CK, Vaisey A, Guy R, Law M, Low N, Bingham A, Gunn J, Kaldor J, Donovan B, Hocking
(2014), Medical Journal of Australia,
DOI: 10.5694/mja13.10729