Repeat diagnosis of syphilis in attendees of GUM clinics
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Factors associated with repeat diagnosis of syphilis in Genitourinary Medicine(GUM) clinic attendees in the North East of England 2002-2013.
IRAS ID
161206
Contact name
Gayle Dolan
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 10 months, 28 days
Research summary
There has been resurgence in diagnoses of syphilis in the UK since the late 1990's. In the North East of England, the number of reported cases of syphilis was noted to increase from 146 on average 2007-2011 to 179 in 2012. Those with multiple episodes may act as core transmitters of infection, but there is little description in the existing literature of the factors associated with repeat infection. This study aims to identify sexual practices and clinical factors associated with repeat infection in order to target appropriate control measures and reduce the risk of on-going transmission.
Cases and controls will be selected from local enhanced surveillance data (routinely submitted by genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinics to Public Health England, when a new episode of syphilis is diagnosed), using a pseudoanonymised dataset. This will contain data for all episodes of infection occurring between 2002 and 2013, using only a unique GUM clinic number, Soundex number (unique NHS identified) and date of birth to identify individuals. A lead clinician in each GUM clinic will append additional information about sexual practices and clinical factors from the clinical record, before returning the dataset to the chief investigator in Public Health England for analysis.
The proportion of individuals exposed to each factor of interest will be compared between groups with a single or multiple episodes of infection. Factors considered will include demographic variables (sex, age, ethnicity), behavioural factors (sexual orientation, type of sex, partner meeting venues, recreational drug use) and clinical factors (concurrent sexually transmitted infections, stage of infection, treatment administered, attendance at follow-up clinics).
It is intended that the findings will be disseminated through communication with local GUM clinics and publication in a peer reviewed, scientific journal.REC name
North East - York Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
14/NE/1160
Date of REC Opinion
16 Oct 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion