Sexually transmitted disease screening by United States obstetricians and gynecologists.
OBJECTIVE
To assess compliance with practice guidelines and to determine the extent of missed opportunities for sexually transmitted disease (STD) prevention by describing screening practices of a national sample of obstetricians and gynecologists and comparing them to the practices of other specialists.


METHODS
Physicians (n = 7300) in five specialties that diagnose 85% of STDs in the United States were surveyed. Obstetrics and gynecology (n = 647) was one of the five specialties. Besides providing demographic and practice characteristics, respondents answered questions about who they screen (nonpregnant females, pregnant females) and for which bacterial STDs (syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia).


RESULTS
Responding obstetricians and gynecologists were most likely to be non-Hispanic white (75%), male (66%), and in their 40s (mode 43 years old). They saw an average of 90 patients per week during 47 hours of direct patient care. Approximately 95% practiced in private settings. Almost all (96%) screened some patients for at least one STD. Obstetricians and gynecologists screened women more frequently than other specialties, but no specialty screened all women or all pregnant women.


CONCLUSIONS
Obstetricians and gynecologists screen women for STDs at a higher rate than other specialties represented in this study. Consistent with published guidelines, most obstetricians and gynecologists in our survey screened pregnant women for chlamydia, gonorrhea, and syphilis. Nonetheless, only about half of obstetricians and gynecologists screened nonpregnant women for gonorrhea or chlamydia, and fewer screen nonpregnant women for syphilis.
Hogben
Matthew
M
Division of STD Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia 30333, USA. mhogben@cdc.gov
St  Lawrence
Janet S
JS
Kasprzyk
Danuta
D
Montano
Daniel E
DE
Counts
George W
GW
McCree
Donna H
DH
Phillips
William
W
Scharbo-DeHaan
Marianne
M
D000328:Adult; D003625:Data Collection; D004635:Emergency Medicine; D005194:Family Practice; D005260:Female; D019983:Guideline Adherence; D006176:Gynecology; D006801:Humans; D007388:Internal Medicine; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods*; D009774:Obstetrics; D010372:Pediatrics; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D011247:Pregnancy; D012749:Sexually Transmitted Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology