Demographic and geographical risk factors for gonorrhoea and chlamydia in greater Western Sydney, 2003-2013

Notification rates of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) have increased in New South Wales as elsewhere in Australia. Understanding trends in chlamydia and gonorrhoea notifications at smaller geographical areas may assist public health efforts to deliver targeted STI interventions. Routinely collected disease notification data from 2 local health districts within the greater Western Sydney area were analysed. De-identified notifications of gonorrhoea and chlamydia were extracted for people aged over 15 years during the period 1 January 2003 to 31 December 2013. Sex-specific and age-specific population notification rates for each infection were calculated. Incidence rate ratios were also calculated with age group, sex, year and local government area (LGA) of residence as explanatory variables. Rates of gonorrhoea and chlamydia increased among males and females over the period. Males had a 4-fold increased risk of gonorrhoea (P