health
Young adults' reported sexual behavior at odds with STD test results
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted Jan. 17, 2011
There often are discrepancies between young adults' self-reported recent sexual behavior and their testing positive for sexually transmitted diseases, according to a new study.
For the study, published online Jan. 3 in Pediatrics, researchers examined data on 14,012 young adults who participated in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. More than 20,000 7th- through 12th-graders were first enrolled in the study in 1994. A portion of the group was re-interviewed and tested for three STDs in 2001 and 2002. Researchers tested for Chlamydia trachomatis, Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Trichomonas vaginalis.
They found that more than 10% of the participants who tested positive for at least one STD reported abstaining from sex during the past 12 months. Among those young adults, about 6% said they never had sex (link).
The study authors suggest routine STD screening for all youths regardless of their self-reported sexual history to reduce such infections.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2011/01/17/hlbf0117.htm.
