Prevalence and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases in gynecological practices in Germany: A retrospective study with more than 1,000,000 patients .

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to analyze the prevalence and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) in gynecological practices in Germany.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included women who were followed in gynecological practices in Germany between 2013 and 2015. The first outcome was the prevalence of women diagnosed with STDs during this time period. Eight different types of STD infections were included in the analysis: chlamydial infection, gonococcal infection, anogenital warts, anogenital herpes infection, trichomoniasis, ulcus molle, phthiriasis, and syphilis. The second outcome was the prevalence of women with STDs who received appropriate medication within 90 days of STD diagnosis.

RESULTS: There were 1,030,968 patients available for analysis. The most frequent infection was chlamydia (0.59%), and the least frequent one was syphilis (0.01%). The prevalence of STDs was found to be the highest in women aged 21 - 25 years (3.42%). Mean age at diagnosis ranged from 27.3 years (chlamydia infection) to 40.6 years (syphilis). Finally, the share of women receiving medication therapy was the highest for syphilis (83.3%) and the lowest for anogenital warts (52.7%).

CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of STDs ranged from 0.01 to 0.59% in women followed in gynecological practices in Germany between 2013 and 2015.
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