Gr. Burstein et al., Adolescent chlamydia testing practices and diagnosed infections in a largemanaged care organization, SEX TRA DIS, 28(8), 2001, pp. 477-483
Goal. To determine chlamydia screening practices and the resulting positive
test results for adolescents enrolled in a large nonprofit managed care or
ganization.
Study Design: The electronic medical records of all 12- to 19year-olds enro
lled in a large nonprofit managed care organization serving a demographical
ly diverse patient population from January 1998 through December 1999 were
reviewed retrospectively.
Results: Among the 43,205 female and 44,133 male managed care organization
members, ages 12 to 19 years in 1998-1999, 7575 adolescents (8.7%) (6914 fe
males [16%] and 661 males [1.5%]) were tested for chlamydia. Among the memb
ers tested, chlamydia was diagnosed in 1109 adolescents (14.6%) (983 female
s [14.2] and 126 males [19.1%]); 761 (68.6%) adolescents were retested for
chlamydia; and 182 (16.4%) had repeat positive test results. The median tim
e to diagnosis of a repeat infection was 6 months.
Conclusions: Chlamydia imposes a large disease burden in the private, organ
ized healthcare sector. Managed care organizations can use operational data
to enhance chlamydia prevention services by defining testing practices and
local disease prevalence.