Universal Screening for Sexually Transmitted Infections in Asymptomatic Teens Reveals a Low Prevalence of Infection in an Urban Pediatric Emergency Department

We have previously demonstrated a prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) of 25% among symptomatic urban adolescent pediatric emergency department (ED) patients. Since STIs may be asymptomatic, screening studies of asymptomatic patients are needed to determine unmet need for STI screening in ED settings and therefore, we sought to determine the prevalence of asymptomatic STIs in adolescents served by a large pediatric ED in a community with high STI prevalence. We assembled a cross-sectional convenience sample of 14-21 year old patients presenting to an urban pediatric ED between December 2013 - July 2014. Participants were tested for Chlamydia Trachomatis (CT) and Neisseria Gonorrhea (NG) using urine-based polymerase chain reaction. Additionally, we administered a validated sexual health survey to understand factors associated with presence of infection.