This series of fact sheets is based on the work of the third U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF). The USPSTF systematically reviews the evidence of effectiveness of a wide range of clinical preventive services—including screening, counseling, and chemoprevention (the use of medication to prevent diseases)—to develop recommendations for preventive care in the primary care setting.
This fact sheet presents highlights of USPSTF recommendations on this topic and should not be used to make treatment or policy decisions. More detailed information on this subject is available from the USPSTF.
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Chlamydia trachomatis is a sexually transmitted infection that affects men and women. It is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted disease (STD) in the United States. An estimated 3 million new cases of chlamydial infection occur each year.
Most people who have chlamydia usually do not know it because they have no symptoms. Chlamydia can be treated and cured easily and inexpensively.
If it is not detected, chlamydia can lead to pelvic infection, infertility and tubal pregnancies in women. In men, chlamydia can cause painful genital infections. Chlamydia infection also increases risk for HIV infection in both men and women. Babies born to women with chlamydia can develop eye infections and pneumonia.
Most people who are infected with chlamydia have no symptoms.
Men and women can get and transmit chlamydial infection through sexual intercourse. Women are tested more often than men because they seek health care services more frequently.
Sexually active women aged 25 and younger are at greatest risk for complications as a result of undetected and untreated chlamydial infection. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 15- to 19-year-old girls account for almost half of all reported cases among women, and women aged 20-24 account for an additional 33 percent.
The CDC reports that 1 in 10 teenage girls tested for chlamydia is infected, but rates vary in different communities. Risk factors for chlamydial infection include having multiple sex partners, having had an STD in the past, and not using condoms consistently and correctly, among others. Risk factors also vary by community.
The greatest risk to women is not knowing they have chlamydia.
Young women are the most important group to screen.
Risk is also high in some groups of women over 25.
Routine screening of at-risk women may reduce their risk of pelvic infection and, if they are pregnant, may improve the health of their newborn babies. According to the CDC, States with chlamydia screening programs have reported that chlamydial infection rates in women have been reduced by as much as 67 percent.
The second USPSTF made similar recommendations regarding screening for chlamydial infection in 1996. Based on new evidence published since then, the third USPSTF has reinforced those recommendations.
According to studies reviewed by the third USPSTF:
Information on the costs and cost savings of different screening and treatment methods is available at www.cdc.gov/nchstp/dstd/HEDIS.htm.
The third USPSTF recommends that clinicians routinely screen all sexually active women aged 25 and younger and all women who may otherwise be at risk—whether or not they are pregnant—for chlamydial infection. Early detection is the most effective way to prevent the serious health problems in women and newborn babies that this often "silent disease" can cause.
New urine testing methods may make screening men for chlamydial infection feasible. These urine testing methods may be particularly useful for screening both men and women in nontraditional settings.
The USPSTF recommends that all primary care clinicians routinely screen sexually active women younger than age 25 for chlamydia.
For more information on chlamydia screening and treatment, contact the following organizations:
American Academy of Family Physicians
11400 Tomahawk Creek Parkway
Leawood, KS 66211-2672
Phone: (913) 906-6000
http://www.aafp.org
American Academy of Pediatrics
141 Northwest Point Boulevard
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007-1098
Phone: (847) 434-4000
Fax: (847) 434-8000
http://www.aap.org
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
ACOG Resource Center
409 12th Street SW
Washington, DC 20090-6920
Phone: (202) 863-2518
Fax: (202) 484-1595
http://www.acog.org
American Social Health Association
P.O.Box 13827
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Phone: (919) 361-8400
Fax: (919) 361-8425
http://www.ashastd.org
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Division of STD Prevention
1600 Clifton Road NE
MS-E-02
Atlanta, GA 30333
Phone: (404) 639-8357
Fax: (404) 639-8609
www.cdc.gov
healthfinder®
www.healthfinder.gov
More detailed information on this subject is available in the Systematic Evidence Review, Summary of the Evidence, and USPSTF Recommendations and Rationale:
Members of the third USPSTF are an independent panel of experts who represent the fields of family medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, pediatrics, nursing, prevention research, and psychology. Members of the third USPSTF are:
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Alfred O. Berg, M.D., M.P.H., Chair Janet D. Allan, Ph.D., R.N., C.S., Vice Chair Paul S. Frame, M.D. Charles J. Homer, M.D., M.P.H. Tracy A. Lieu, M.D., M.P.H. Cynthia D. Mulrow, M.D., M.Sc. |
Carole Tracy Orleans, Ph.D. Jeffrey F. Peipert, M.D., M.P.H. Nola J. Pender, Ph.D., R.N. Steven M. Teutsch, M.D., M.P.H. Carolyn Westhoff, M.D., M.Sc. Steven H. Woolf, M.D., M.P.H. |
AHRQ Publication No. APPIP01-0010
Current as of March 2001
Internet Citation:
Screening for Chlamydial Infection. What's New from the Third USPSTF. AHRQ Publication No. APPIP01-0010, March 2001. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/prev/chlamwh.htm
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