Estimating nationwide cases of sexually transmitted diseases in 2015 from sentinel surveillance data in Japan

Background The rates of newly diagnosed cases of sexually transmitted diseases, including genital chlamydial infection and gonorrhea, are important for prevention and control of these diseases. However, nationwide rates are not reported in Japan. Methods We used the number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases reported by nationwide sentinel surveillance in 2015, together with the number of all disease outpatients in September 2014 at all medical institutions, drawn from the Survey of Medical Institutions of Japan. The number of cases of sexually transmitted diseases in the total population was estimated using the ratio estimation method with the number of all disease outpatients as auxiliary information. This method is currently used for estimating influenza cases from sentinel surveillance data in Japan. Results The estimated number of newly diagnosed cases per 100,000 population in 2015 in Japan was 244 (95% confidence interval 211-277) for genital chlamydial infection, 87 (95% confidence interval 74-100) for genital herpes, 61 (95% confidence interval 29-93) for condyloma acuminatum, and 89 (95% confidence interval 64-113) for gonorrhea. Conclusion We estimated the nationwide number of newly diagnosed cases of sexually transmitted diseases in Japan from sentinel surveillance data. This provides useful information for public health policy-making.