A 13-year longitudinal analysis of risk factors and clinic visitation patterns of patients with repeated gonorrhea.
A retrospective study of 2498 patients who made multiple visits to a sexually transmitted disease clinic over a 13-year period analyzed risk factors, default patterns, and repeated infections associated with gonococcal urethritis. An analysis of visitation patterns found that being young, black, and male and having a history of gonococcal urethritis before visiting the clinic was positively related to the total time a patient remained involved with the clinic. Default rates for all patients increased with successive clinic visits. A focused analysis was carried out on the records of 146 patients who returned to the clinic within 12 months with a second diagnosis of gonococcal urethritis. It was found that this group of "repeaters," who comprised 15% of the total population with gonococcal urethritis, accounted for approximately 29% of all diagnoses of this infection over the 13-year study period. Repeaters were found to be more frequently male, black, single, and to be less likely to return for a test-of-cure culture. Longitudinal analysis found that the median time repeaters remained involved with the clinic was approximately 130 days. The relatively brief clinic "half-life" and rapid rates of removal of repeaters are discussed in terms of the development of strain-specific immunity to Neisseria gonorrhoeae in a closed population of patients.
McEvoy
B F
BF
Department of Medicine, Albany Medical College, New York.
Le Furgy
W G
WG
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006069:Gonorrhea / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D010349:Patient Compliance; D044469:Racial Groups; D012008:Recurrence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors