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Background: Currently there are no screening guidelines for sexually active adolescent Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) testing, TV nucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) allow testing with non-invasive specimen collection. Understanding TV prevalence and epidemiologic profile among adolescents can be used to develop screening recommendations.
Methods: Setting: Urban general pediatric primary care clinic in Erie County, New York. Population: 11-18 year old sexually active male and female patients with a urine specimen sent for a TV NAAT (APTIMA Trichomonas vaginalis Assay, GenProbe, San Diego, CA) as standard care during routine health maintenance visits where screening Neisseria gonorrhoeae (GC) or Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) NAATs (APTIMA COMBO 2 Assay, GenProbe, San Diego, CA) were sent. Time period: 1/2012-5/2013 Methods: A retrospective chart review was performed. Data on TV test result, pregnancy status, presence of genitourinary or abdominal symptoms, age, race, ethnicity, zip code, and presence of GC or CT co-infection were extracted via chart review.
Results: Among the 199 (65%) female and 107 (35%) males tested, 40 (20%) and 4 (4%), respectively, tested TV positive at least once. Among the 145 adolescents TV tested more than once, 13 (9%) had a repeat positive test. All 44 adolescents testing TV positive were asymptomatic. Peak age of positivity was 14-15 years (19/94; 20%). Among 22 adolescents testing GC positive and 65 testing CT positive, 8 (36%) and 21 (32%), respectively, were TV coinfected. There were no significant differences in age, race, ethnicity, or zip code. Patients who tested TV positive were more likely to be co-infected with GC (p = 0.002) and CT (p = 0.001) at time of testing.
Conclusions: In an urban pediatric primary care clinic, providers should consider TV testing females when screening for GC and CT during routine health maintenance visits regardless of reported symptoms.