Nearly 1 in 4 female adolescents and young adults in the United States test positive for a sexually transmitted infection (STI) each year, but these young women often choose to test positive for a sexually transmitted infection (STI) due to cost, transportation, or confidentiality. This statistic is made even more troubling by the fact that patients often avoid medical care. Concerns. More than 33% of adolescents report not having a primary care provider, and this population often relies on emergency department (ED) and inpatient (IP) facilities for their medical needs.
STI test / jarun011 – Stock.adobe.com
The COVID-19 pandemic has reduced access to health care in the United States, further putting adolescents at risk for sexually transmitted infections. At the time, health experts warned that it had a negative impact on adolescent sexual and reproductive health (SRH).
Important points
- Median weekly inpatient visits diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections increased by 30.4% in summer 2020 and 27.3% in fall 2020 compared to pre-COVID-19 .
- The increase in sexually transmitted infections may be due in part to the lack of access to primary and other health services, such as sex education in schools, during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Based on this finding, the researchers noted the need to increase access to SRH education and care for adolescents.
A study was recently published. Hospital Pediatrics They compared changes in sexually transmitted disease diagnoses when adolescents visited a children’s hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic with diagnoses before the pandemic.1 Researchers used the Pediatric Health Information System database to study hospital visits among adolescents (11 to 18 years old) and international We conducted a retrospective cohort study to compare sexually transmitted disease diagnoses using the 10th revised classification of diseases. (from 2017 until he 2019).
A total of 2,747,135 adolescents from 44 U.S. hospitals were studied, of whom 10,941 were diagnosed with an STI. The majority of STI diagnoses (54.5%) were the primary diagnosis. His primary diagnosis was an STI in 36% of IP visits and 66% of emergency department visits. When STI is a secondary diagnosis, the most common primary diagnoses include urinary tract infection, sepsis, acute vaginitis, and unspecified abdominal pain.
Read more: COVID-19 vaccination is effective in preventing long-term COVID-19 infection in children and adolescents
In the summer of 2020, there was an overall increase (30.4%) in the median number of weekly visits for inpatients diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections compared to pre-COVID-19, and the number of visits in the fall of 2020 increased (by 30.4%). also increased (27.3%). The researchers also noted that other recent studies have shown that STI testing decreased and STI diagnoses increased in various clinical settings during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic. I also admitted that there are.
“Our findings demonstrate that changes in health care utilization (e.g., loss of access to primary care and school-based sex education) and increased reliance on non-traditional settings for SRH care, including hospital-based care, “This may have been partially driven by,” the authors noted.
Researchers concluded that as a result of the increased number of hospitalized adolescents diagnosed with sexually transmitted infections in 2020, more efforts are needed to improve sexually transmitted disease care specifically for this population. In the study, the authors concluded, “Given our findings and recent literature on SRH care for adolescents during the COVID-19 outbreak, we believe that SRH care should be improved to prepare for future pandemics.” “Efforts are needed to optimize the risk of sexually transmitted infections and offset the risk of increased sexually transmitted infections.” Optimizing sexually transmitted infection testing and treatment requires innovative efforts, including virtual and in-person outreach, to increase adolescents’ access to her SRH education and care. These efforts can help reduce the risk of sexually transmitted infections among young people receiving hospital care and may improve associated health outcomes in future health care crises. ”
Read more: COVID-19 Resource Center
This article was originally published in Modern Obstetrics and Gynecology.
