The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Sexually Transmitted Infections surveillance data: incidence drop or artefact?

BMC Public Health

Albert Prats-Uribe¹  Marcos Montoro-Fernandez²  Daniel Kwakye Nomah³  Evelin López-Corbeto⁴  Juliana Reyes-Urueña⁴  Jordi Casabona⁵  Alexis Sentís⁶  Lilas Mercuriali⁷  Víctor Guadalupe-Fernández⁸  Núria Borrell⁹  Patrícia Garcia de Olalla^1,10 

[1] Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Botnar Research Centre, NDORMS, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK;Centre of epidemiological studies on sexually transmitted infections and AIDS of Catalonia (CEEISCAT). Department of Health. Generalitat of Catalonia, Badalona, Spain;Centre of epidemiological studies on sexually transmitted infections and AIDS of Catalonia (CEEISCAT). Department of Health. Generalitat of Catalonia, Badalona, Spain;Department of Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Preventive Medicine, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Badalona, Spain;Centre of epidemiological studies on sexually transmitted infections and AIDS of Catalonia (CEEISCAT). Department of Health. Generalitat of Catalonia, Badalona, Spain;Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain;Centre of epidemiological studies on sexually transmitted infections and AIDS of Catalonia (CEEISCAT). Department of Health. Generalitat of Catalonia, Badalona, Spain;Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain;Department of Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynecology and Preventive Medicine, Universitat Autónoma de Barcelona, Badalona, Spain;Centre of epidemiological studies on sexually transmitted infections and AIDS of Catalonia (CEEISCAT). Department of Health. Generalitat of Catalonia, Badalona, Spain;Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain;Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), Barcelona, Spain;Epiconcept, Epidemiology Department, Paris, France;Epidemiological Service of Public Health Agency of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;Epidemiological Surveillance and Response to Public Health Emergencies Service in Central Catalonia, Agency of Public Health of Catalonia, Generalitat of Catalonia, Manresa, Spain;Epidemiological Surveillance and Response to Public Health Emergencies Service in Tarragona Camp, Agency of Public Health of Catalonia, Generalitat of Catalonia, Tarragona, Spain;Spanish Consortium for Research on Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain;Epidemiological Service of Public Health Agency of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain;

关键词: Public health;    Surveillance, communicable diseases;    Sexually transmitted infections;    Interrupted time series;    COVID-19;    Lockdown;    Trends;    Epidemiology;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-021-11630-x

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBefore the COVID-19 pandemic, Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) were increasing in Europe, and Spain and Catalonia were not an exception. Catalonia has been one of the regions with the highest number of COVID-19 confirmed cases in Spain. The objective of this study was to estimate the magnitude of the decline, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in the number of STI confirmed cases in Catalonia during the lockdown and de-escalation phases.MethodsInterrupted time series analysis was performed to estimate the magnitude of decline in the number of STI reported confirmed cases - chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and lymphogranuloma venereum- in Catalonia since lockdown with historical data, from March 13th to August 1st 2020, comparing the observed with the expected values.ResultsWe found that since the start of COVID-19 pandemic the number of STI reported cases was 51% less than expected, reaching an average of 56% during lockdown (50% and 45% during de-escalation and new normality) with a maximum decrease of 72% for chlamydia and minimum of 22% for syphilis. Our results indicate that fewer STIs were reported in females, people living in more deprived areas, people with no previous STI episodes during the last three years, and in the HIV negative.ConclusionsThe STI notification sharp decline was maintained almost five months after lockdown started, well into the new normality. This fact can hardly be explained without significant underdiagnosis and underreporting. There is an urgent need to strengthen STI/HIV diagnostic programs and services, as well as surveillance, as the pandemic could be concealing the real size of the already described re-emergence of STIs in most of the European countries.

【 授权许可】

CC BY