Differential Screening for Nonviral Sexually Transmitted Infections by Type of Vaginitis Testing

Overview

Journal Sex Transm Dis

Specialty Infectious Diseases

Date 2023 Apr 19

PMID 37074317

Authors

Casey N Pinto

Molly Jung

Megan Wimmer

Claudia Goldblatt

Nicole Sweeney

Molly Broache

Barbara Van Der Pol

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Data are lacking on adherence to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention testing guidelines among insured US women presenting with vaginal health complaints; thus, we quantified vaginitis testing frequency and assessed the co-testing rate for causes of vaginitis and Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria gonorrhoeae (NG).

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of deidentified data from a medical database. Information from women aged 18 to 50 years was obtained from the Truven MarketScan Commercial Database (2012-2017) using Current Procedural Terminology ( CPT ) codes; χ2 testing was applied to determine co-testing differences for CT/NG based on vaginitis test type. Odds ratios were calculated to determine the association with CT/NG screening across vaginitis testing categories.

Results: Approximately 48% of 1,359,289 women received a vaginitis diagnosis that involved a laboratory-based test. Of these women, only 34% were co-tested for CT/NG. CT/NG co-testing was highest for those with nucleic acid amplification testing for vaginitis and lowest for those with no vaginitis testing CPT code (71% vs. 23%, respectively; P < 0.0001).

Conclusions: The vaginitis nucleic acid amplification test, indicated by CPT code, was associated with statistically significantly higher CT/NG testing rates. Molecular diagnostics may support vaginitis testing in settings that have limited opportunities for microscopy and clinical examinations and offer greater opportunity to offer comprehensive women's health care that includes testing for chlamydia and/or gonorrhea infections.

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