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Knowledge about and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging Croatian adults

To determine the prevalence of genital Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia) infection, knowledge about chlamydia and experience of previous testing for chlamydia, we carried out a national probability-based survey in emerging adults aged 18–25 years in Croatia in 2021–2022. Participants (n = 1197), mem...

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Autores principales: Bozicevic, Ivana, Blazic, Tatjana Nemeth, Kosanovic Licina, Mirjana Lana, Marijan, Tatjana, Mestrovic, Tomislav, De Zan, Tihana, Stulhofer, Aleksandar
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10610073/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37889908
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293224
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author Bozicevic, Ivana
Blazic, Tatjana Nemeth
Kosanovic Licina, Mirjana Lana
Marijan, Tatjana
Mestrovic, Tomislav
De Zan, Tihana
Stulhofer, Aleksandar
author_facet Bozicevic, Ivana
Blazic, Tatjana Nemeth
Kosanovic Licina, Mirjana Lana
Marijan, Tatjana
Mestrovic, Tomislav
De Zan, Tihana
Stulhofer, Aleksandar
author_sort Bozicevic, Ivana
collection PubMed
description To determine the prevalence of genital Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia) infection, knowledge about chlamydia and experience of previous testing for chlamydia, we carried out a national probability-based survey in emerging adults aged 18–25 years in Croatia in 2021–2022. Participants (n = 1197), members of a national online panel, completed a web-based questionnaire that collected information on socio-demographics, sexual behaviours and knowledge about sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Urine specimens from a sample of sexually experienced participants were self-collected and tested for chlamydia using Cobas 4800 CT/NG test. To achieve broad representativeness of the emerging adult population in the country, we applied post-hoc weighting for gender and age. Multivariable ordinary least squares linear regression was used to determine correlates of knowledge about chlamydia infection and binomial logistic regression to assess correlates of the willingness to test for chlamydia. Among 448 participants who sent in their urine specimens chlamydia prevalence was 2.5% (95% CI 1.2–5.1) in women and 1.0% (0.3–3.2%) in men. A total of 8.0% of women and 4.7% men reported testing for chlamydia prior to the survey. About a quarter of the sample was characterized by not answering correctly any of the six questions related to knowledge about chlamydia, while only 9.6% had five or six correct answers. In the multivariable analysis, significantly higher odds of willingness to test for chlamydia were found in females compared to males (OR = 1.34, p = 0.024), those with better knowledge about the infection (OR = 1.11, p = 0.005), and those with lower religiosity (OR = 0.91, p = 0.017). In conclusion, prevalence of chlamydia in emerging adults in Croatia is considerable. Efforts to control this infection should focus on primary prevention and targeted testing combined with effective case management strategies.
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spelling pubmed-106100732023-10-28 Knowledge about and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging Croatian adults Bozicevic, Ivana Blazic, Tatjana Nemeth Kosanovic Licina, Mirjana Lana Marijan, Tatjana Mestrovic, Tomislav De Zan, Tihana Stulhofer, Aleksandar PLoS One Research Article To determine the prevalence of genital Chlamydia trachomatis (chlamydia) infection, knowledge about chlamydia and experience of previous testing for chlamydia, we carried out a national probability-based survey in emerging adults aged 18–25 years in Croatia in 2021–2022. Participants (n = 1197), members of a national online panel, completed a web-based questionnaire that collected information on socio-demographics, sexual behaviours and knowledge about sexually transmitted infections (STIs). Urine specimens from a sample of sexually experienced participants were self-collected and tested for chlamydia using Cobas 4800 CT/NG test. To achieve broad representativeness of the emerging adult population in the country, we applied post-hoc weighting for gender and age. Multivariable ordinary least squares linear regression was used to determine correlates of knowledge about chlamydia infection and binomial logistic regression to assess correlates of the willingness to test for chlamydia. Among 448 participants who sent in their urine specimens chlamydia prevalence was 2.5% (95% CI 1.2–5.1) in women and 1.0% (0.3–3.2%) in men. A total of 8.0% of women and 4.7% men reported testing for chlamydia prior to the survey. About a quarter of the sample was characterized by not answering correctly any of the six questions related to knowledge about chlamydia, while only 9.6% had five or six correct answers. In the multivariable analysis, significantly higher odds of willingness to test for chlamydia were found in females compared to males (OR = 1.34, p = 0.024), those with better knowledge about the infection (OR = 1.11, p = 0.005), and those with lower religiosity (OR = 0.91, p = 0.017). In conclusion, prevalence of chlamydia in emerging adults in Croatia is considerable. Efforts to control this infection should focus on primary prevention and targeted testing combined with effective case management strategies. Public Library of Science 2023-10-27 /pmc/articles/PMC10610073/ /pubmed/37889908 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293224 Text en © 2023 Bozicevic et al https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) , which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Bozicevic, Ivana
Blazic, Tatjana Nemeth
Kosanovic Licina, Mirjana Lana
Marijan, Tatjana
Mestrovic, Tomislav
De Zan, Tihana
Stulhofer, Aleksandar
Knowledge about and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging Croatian adults
title Knowledge about and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging Croatian adults
title_full Knowledge about and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging Croatian adults
title_fullStr Knowledge about and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging Croatian adults
title_full_unstemmed Knowledge about and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging Croatian adults
title_short Knowledge about and prevalence of Chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging Croatian adults
title_sort knowledge about and prevalence of chlamydia trachomatis in a population-based sample of emerging croatian adults
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10610073/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37889908
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0293224
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