Too few patients are receiving recommended chlamydia and gonorrhea treatment in primary care settings, according to a study published in the Annals of Family Medicine analyzing electronic health records from 2018 to 2022. Among 6,678 confirmed chlamydia cases and 2,206 confirmed gonorrhea cases studied, 75.3% and 69.6%, respectively, received treatment. Treatment rates were higher among women than men (chlamydia: 78.4% vs 67.2%; gonorrhea: 78.9% vs 51.4%). Additionally, younger individuals and those with coinfections were more likely to receive treatment. However, adherence to recommended first-line antibiotics was low overall—with only 14.0% of chlamydia cases being treated with doxycycline as recommended by the most current Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) treatment guidelines and 38.7% of gonorrhea cases being treated with ceftriaxone as recommended. Time to treatment for chlamydia was longer for some groups studied, particularly non-Hispanic Black patients and older adults (aged 50-59 years).
Room to improve: Researchers characterize guideline adherence for chlamydia and gonorrhea treatment during the study period as “suboptimal.” Read more about STI testing from the JUCM archive: The Urgent Need for STI Testing in Urgent Care Centers
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