Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #108098

Caroline M. Fichtenberg, MS, Department of Epidemiology, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, 615 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205, 410-287-4993, cfichten@jhsph.edu, Jonathan Ellen, MD, Adolescent Health Research Group, Johns Hopkins University, 2700 Lighthouse Point East, Suite 210, Baltimore, MD 21224, Sherry Scott, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, 2700 Lighthouse Point East, Suite 210, Baltimore, MD 21224, Michael W. Ross, PhD, WHO Center for Health Promotion Research and Development, The University of Texas - Houston School of Public Health, PO Box 20186, Houston, TX 77225, Sevgi Aral, PhD, Centers for Disease Control, Corporate Square Office Park, Building 10, Atlanta, GA 30329, Stuart M. Berman, MD, Chief of Epidemiology and Surveillance Branch, Division of STD Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Rd. NE, MS-E-02, Atlanta, GA 30333, Janet St. Lawrence, PhD, Behavioral Interventions Research Branch, Division of STD Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop E-44, Atlanta, GA 30333, and emily Erbelding, MD, MPH, Eastern STD Clinic, Baltimore City Health Department- Division of Health promotion and Disease prevention, 620 N. Caroline Street, Baltimore, MD 21205.

Behavioral surveillance for STIs would be simplified if extended behavioral information could be collected on those reported to have STIs through standard disease surveillance. We sought to determine whether sexual behaviors of women diagnosed with gonorrhea in the community STD clinics were similar to behaviors of respondents in a community-based sampling frame. Participants recently treated for gonorrhea took the same interviewer-administered behavioral survey as women recruited from two public social venues (a dance club and a mall) in Baltimore City, MD. Preliminary results based on 45 women diagnosed with gonorrhea in clinics, 25 club-goers and 25 mall-goers, reveal that clinic attendees differ from general community members in terms of several STD-related risk behaviors. As compared to social venue attendees, clinic attendees had more casual partners in the last four weeks (2.2 (SD=2.4) vs. 1.4 (0.5)), used condoms less often during vaginal sex (37.1% vs. 46.4% of the time), knew less about their partners' sexual activities (33% vs. 15% knowing little or nothing), and were more likely to engage in concurrent, or overlapping, relationships (7% vs. 4%). These preliminary results suggest female clinic attendees diagnosed with an STI are not representative of community members recruited from social venues. Behavioral surveillance systems to monitor STI risk trends that are built upon disease surveillance systems may yield different results than those based upon community samples.

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