title: Effectiveness of an educational leaflet on the prevention of external genital warts recurrences.
abstract: The study aims to assess the effectiveness of an educational leaflet in the prevention of external genital warts recurrences after achieving clearance with topical immune response modifiers treatment. A six-month follow-up, prospective, open, multi-centre randomized by centres study was conducted, which included a total of 216 patients. A total of 103 (47.7%) patients were given an educational leaflet. In all, 201 subjects (93.1%) came to the second follow-up visit, of which 62.7% achieved condyloma acuminatum (CA) clearance. During follow-up, 15% (confidence intervals [CI] 95%, 7.1-26.6%) of the patients who were given the educational leaflet, and 33.3% (CI 95%, 20.4-48.4%) of those who were not given the educational leaflet showed CA recurrences; the global rate of CA recurrence at the end of the six-month follow-up was 23.1% (CI 95%, 15.6-32.2%). The educational leaflet has therefore proved to be effective at reducing the recurrence rate after successful treatment with immune response modifiers.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology and Venereology, Hospital General Universitario, Universidad de Valencia, Valencia, Spain. vilatacorell@eresmas.net
authors.forename: Juan José
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Vilata
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Badia
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003218:Condylomata Acuminata / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010174:Pamphlets; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011446:Prospective Studies; D055502:Secondary Prevention