title: Repeat chlamydia screening among adolescents: cohort study in a school-based programme in New Orleans.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe uptake of chlamydia screening, determine rates of repeated yearly screening and investigate determinants of repeated participation in an organised school-based screening programme.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors analysed data from 1995 to 2005 from female and male students in up to 13 schools in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA. The authors calculated proportions of students tested among all enrolled students and among those with parental consent and the percentage of positive chlamydia tests in each school year. The authors used random effects logistic regression to examine the effect of past screening history on subsequent participation.
  
  
  RESULTS
  35 041 students were registered for at least one school year. Overall coverage was >30% in all school years. Among all students registered for 4 years, 10.6% (95% CI 9.3% to 12.0%) of women and 12.7% (95% CI 11.2% to 14.2%) of men had a test every year. Among students with parental consent for 4 years, 49.3% (95% CI 44.6% to 54.1%) of women and 59.3% (95% CI 54.5% to 64.0%) of men had a test every year. Among students registered for 2 or more years, those with a previous positive chlamydia test were less likely to have a subsequent test (female adjusted OR 0.77, 95% CI 0.67 to 0.88 and male adjusted OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.69 to 1.02). Chlamydia positivity increased over time.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  High levels of uptake can be achieved in school-based chlamydia screening programmes, but repeated yearly screening is difficult to sustain over time.
authors: Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine, University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland. low@ispm.unibe.ch
authors: Nicola
authors: N
authors: Low
authors: Mathieu
authors: M
authors: Forster
authors: Stephanie N
authors: SN
authors: Taylor
authors: M Jacques
authors: MJ
authors: Nsuami
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008219:Lymphogranuloma Venereum / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055820:New Orleans; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012574:Schools