U.S. Preventive Services Task Force*
Disclaimer: Recommendations made by the USPSTF are independent of the U.S. government. They should not be construed as an official position of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: None disclosed.
Requests for Single Reprints: Reprints are available from the USPSTF Web site (www.preventiveservices.ahrq.gov) and from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Publication Clearinghouse (800-358-9295 or e-mail at AHRQPubs@ahrq.hhs.gov).
Update of 2001 U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommendations about screening sexually active adolescents and adults for chlamydial infection.
The USPSTF weighed the benefits (improved fertility, pregnancy outcomes, and infection transmission) and harms (anxiety, relationship problems, and unnecessary treatment of false-positive results) of chlamydial screening identified in their 2001 recommendations and the accompanying systematic review of English-language articles published between July 2000 and July 2005.
Screen for chlamydial infection in all sexually active nonpregnant young women age 24 years or younger and for older nonpregnant women who are at increased risk. (A recommendation)
Screen for chlamydial infection in all pregnant women age 24 years or younger and in older pregnant women who are at increased risk. (B recommendation)
Do not routinely screen for chlamydial infection in women age 25 years or older, regardless of whether they are pregnant, if they are not at increased risk. (C recommendation)
Current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening for chlamydial infection for men. (I statement)
*For a list of the members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, see the Appendix.
Screening for chlamydial infection.
For a summary of the evidence systematically reviewed in making these recommendations, the full recommendation statement, and supporting documents, please go to www.preventiveservices.ahrq.gov. *Chlamydial infection results in few sequelae in men. Therefore, the major benefit of screening men would be to reduce the likelihood that infected and untreated men would pass the infection to sexual partners. There is no evidence that screening men reduces the long-term consequences of chlamydial infection in women. Because of this lack of evidence, the USPSTF could not assess the balance of benefits and harms and concluded that the evidence is insufficient to recommend for or against routinely screening men. †Information from reference 1.
Table 1. What the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Grades Mean and Suggestions for Practice*
Table 2. U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Levels of Certainty Regarding Net Benefit
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U.S. Preventive Services Task Force*. Screening for Chlamydial Infection: U.S. Preventive Services Task Force Recommendation Statement. Ann Intern Med. 2007;147:128–134. doi: https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-147-2-200707170-00172
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© 2019
Published: Ann Intern Med. 2007;147(2):128-134.
DOI: 10.7326/0003-4819-147-2-200707170-00172
Guidelines, Infectious Disease, Sexually Transmitted Infections.
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