Teen Girls Opt to Self-Obtain Samples for STD Testing

Sexually active girls are more likely to be tested, diagnosed and treated for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) when given the option of using a vaginal swab to collect a test sample themselves rather than having a pelvic exam, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB).

Posted on July 12, 2001 at 2:30 p.m.

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Sexually active girls are more likely to be tested, diagnosed and treated for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) when given the option of using a vaginal swab to collect a test sample themselves rather than having a pelvic exam, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). Details of the study were published in the June 2001 issue of the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

“Treatable STDs, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and vaginitis, are relatively common among sexually active young women,” says Kim Smith, MT (ASCP), infectious diseases research associate at UAB. “However, because symptoms are usually mild or nonexistent, these infections often go undiagnosed, posing serious health consequences, including further disease, infertility and even death.”

The study enrolled 512 sexually active girls and found that all the girls chose to obtain a specimen themselves using a vaginal swab rather than having a pelvic exam. “This appears to be a readily accepted method of testing to these girls,” Smith says. “Since they are at high risk of contracting STDs, they need to be tested regularly.”

The study, conducted from December 1996 through April 1999, recruited African American high school girls between the ages of 14 and 18 who lived in neighborhoods characterized by high rates of unemployment, substance abuse, violence and STDs. “ We chose this population because these girls represent a rapidly growing number of cases of STDs and HIV,” says Smith.

Of those who participated in the study, 147, or 29 percent, had at least one treatable STD, and 28, or six percent, had two or more infections. “However, nearly all the girls said they had no symptoms and none suspected that STDs were common,” says Smith.

Findings support a growing body of evidence that self-obtained vaginal swab samples are a good method of screening for STDs in situations where pelvic exams are not otherwise necessary. “Offering young women non-clinical alternatives to testing for STDs provides healthcare professionals with new, effective ways of diagnosing and in turn, treating genital infections,” says Smith.

Other researchers who collaborated on the study are Kathy Harrington, M.A.Ed., and Kim Oh, M.D., with UAB’s department of pediatrics; Edward Hook, III, M.D., with UAB’s division of infectious diseases; and Gina Wingood, Sc.D., and Ralph J. DiClemente, Ph.D., with the Rollins School of Public Health and the Emory/Atlanta Center for AIDS Research at Emory University in Atlanta.