Trends in patient’s use of sexual health services during COVID-19 in a network of STD clinics, STD Surveillance Network, 2019–2021

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Sex Transm Dis
• Personal Author:
  Llata, Eloisa ; Schumacher, Christina ; Grigorov, Irina ; Danforth, Brandi ; Pathela, Preeti ; Asbel, Lenore ; Nguyen, Trang Quyen ; Berzkalns, Anna ; Kreisel, Kristen M.
• Description:
  Background:
  
  The initial years of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted sexual healthcare clinic’s services. We describe use patterns by patient characteristics, and the use of telehealth (TH) services among a network of sexually transmitted disease (STD) clinics.
  
  Methods:
  
  Data were collected using a survey to assess the impact of COVID-19 from March – December 2020 among seven jurisdictions who contribute STD visit-level data as part of the STD Surveillance Network. As a complement to the survey, retrospective data from January 2019 – December 2021 from these seven STD clinics in the same seven jurisdictions were examined for monthly utilization trends by overall visits, patient characteristics, and TH visits.
  
  Results:
  
  Survey results indicated seven clinics prioritized patients for in-person visits and four jurisdictions reported urgent care centers were the most common referral location. In April 2020 (relative to April 2019) clinic visits and unique patients decreased by 68.0% and 75.8%, respectively. TH were documented in four clinics, beginning in March 2020, peaking in December 2020, and tapering until December 2021. We observed the number of clinic visits (-12.2%) and unique patients presenting for care (-27.2%)in December 2021 had yet to return to levels to that seen in December 2019.
  
  Conclusion:
  
  STD clinics showed fragility and resiliency in their adjustment to the pandemic; allowing for the continuation of services. Overall patient census has been slow to return to pre-pandemic levels, and many patients may still not be seeking timely care. This could result in missed opportunities to screen and treat STIs and increasing the possibility of harmful sequelae.
  
  
• Subjects:
  Ambulatory Care Facilities COVID-19 Humans Pandemics Retrospective Studies Sexually Transmitted Diseases
• Keywords:
  Sexual Health STD Clinics Survey
• Source:
  Sex Transm Dis. 50(10):692-698
• Pubmed ID:
  37255255
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC11201968
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  50
• Issue:
  10
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:7f29b77bb6e3d8947197032f11164d1c3a0ccf12bc7dbed7b08b523a078d0ac1860290c0d5cb738d8afe7e4e2fe5cf009b2aff6752c9461994749b055584d122
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/158165/cdc_158165_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 901.16 KB ]