Using Sentinel Surveillance Data As Added Value to Traditional STD Prevention Strategies

Background: Partner services associated with STD positive patients is a core STD prevention activity. The advent of sentinel surveillance, such as the STD Surveillance Network (SSuN) provides additional data sources that may improve programmatic understanding of social and behavioral risk factors.

Objectives: To use SSuN data as a crude mechanism to provide added-value for STD partner services (PS) and to employ population assessments as part of the “toolbox” for Disease Intervention Specialists.

Methods: Interview data from STD*MIS (in-person) and SSuN (self-administered) were assessed from 2009-2010 for Richmond city, and Henrico and Chesterfield counties. The mean number of sex partners by diagnosis was calculated for both traditional PS and SSuN.  Variations across demographic strata are being assessed to determine large scale differences between PS and SSuN. Detailed population assessments based on SSuN data are being created for DIS as a surveillance framework tool.

Results: SSuN interview data from 2009-2010 indicate that gonorrhea positive patients (n = 556) reported an average of 2.21 sex partners, and syphilis positive patients (n = 65) reported an average of 1.78 sex partners.  PS data indicated that interviewed gonorrhea cases (n = 190) reported an average of 1.24 sex partners, while interviewed syphilis cases (n=1,055) on average reported 2.55 partners.  Stratification by various demographic groups reveals further variance in behavioral risks.

Conclusions: Assessment of SSuN and PS data can provide valuable surveillance insight by enhancing knowledge of behavioral risk factors and framing characteristics of sub-populations which may assist DIS interview strategies.

Implications for Programs, Policy, and Research: Variance in data collection methods and variables prohibits any direct statistical correlations between SSuN and PS data. However, evaluation of both data sources should provide enhanced knowledge of behavioral risks and overall STD surveillance, and should be monitored routinely.  Minor alterations to data collection procedures may allow for improved analyses and outcomes assessment for STD prevention.