Efficacy of home sampling for screening of Chlamydia trachomatis: randomised study
BMJ 1998; 317 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.317.7150.26 (Published 04 July 1998) Cite this as: BMJ 1998;317:26
- Lars Østergaard, senior registrara,
- Berit Andersen, research assistantb,
- Frede Olesen, consultant physicianb,
- Jens K Møller, directorc
- a Department of Infectious Diseases, Aarhus University Hospital, PP Ørumsgade 11, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark,
- b Research Unit for General Practice, University of Aarhus, DK-8000 Aarhus C, Denmark,
- c Department of Clinical Microbiology, Aarhus University Hospital
- Correspondence to: Dr Østergaard
- Accepted 22 December 1997
Urogenital infections caused by Chlamydia trachomatis are common and may cause female infertility and ectopic pregnancy. Such infections are treatable but as C trachomatis often causes no symptoms they may remain undetected. As screening for C trachomatis reduces the number of complications,1 and self reportable screening criteria seem to have a low predictive value for infection,2 testing people not seeking medical care seems relevant. C trachomatis can be detected by amplification of DNA from urine and vaginal secretions—samples that can be obtained at home and mailed directly to the laboratory. 3 4 Usually a swab sample is taken by a doctor but if a patient can collect a sample at home this may result in improved screening rates and thus more infections being detected.
Subjects, methods, and results
We randomised all 17 high schools in Aarhus County into two screening groups. In the home sampling group the females were asked to collect two urine samples and one vaginal flush sample3 and the males were asked to collect one first …