BACKGROUND: Eradicating genital warts through HPV immunization could decrease STD clinic utilization but may result in missed opportunities to diagnose other STDs. OBJECTIVES: To define the proportion of STD clinic visits attributable to HPV and to describe the prevalence of other STD diagnoses among visits for HPV-related presenting concerns. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of medical records (1994-2004) from a single STD clinic. Prevalences of STDs were calculated for male and female patients with and without HPV-related presenting concerns. RESULTS: Of the 66,537 visits included in the study, 10.3% were HPV-related. Of the 3085 HPV-related "new problem" visits, only 281 non-HPV diagnoses were made, with nonspecific urethritis and CT being the most common diagnosis for males and females, respectively. Nearly 25% of the 14,574 follow-up visits were for HPV. CONCLUSIONS: Newly developed HPV vaccines may substantially decrease public STD clinic workloads with little associated lost opportunity to diagnose and treat other STDs.
BACKGROUND: Eradicating genital warts through HPV immunization could decrease STD clinic utilization but may result in missed opportunities to diagnose other STDs. OBJECTIVES: To define the proportion of STD clinic visits attributable to HPV and to describe the prevalence of other STD diagnoses among visits for HPV-related presenting concerns. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis of medical records (1994-2004) from a single STD clinic. Prevalences of STDs were calculated for male and female patients with and without HPV-related presenting concerns. RESULTS: Of the 66,537 visits included in the study, 10.3% were HPV-related. Of the 3085 HPV-related "new problem" visits, only 281 non-HPV diagnoses were made, with nonspecific urethritis and CT being the most common diagnosis for males and females, respectively. Nearly 25% of the 14,574 follow-up visits were for HPV. CONCLUSIONS: Newly developed HPV vaccines may substantially decrease public STD clinic workloads with little associated lost opportunity to diagnose and treat other STDs.
Authors: Vivian Colón-López; Ana P Ortiz; Lizbeth M Del Toro-Mejías; Hermes García; Michael C Clatts; Joel Palefsky Journal: BMC Infect Dis Date: 2012-12-12 Impact factor: 3.090