TY - JOUR
T1 - Patterns of Treatment of External Genital Warts in Australian Sexual Health Clinics
AU - Pirotta, Marie V.
AU - Stein, Alicia N.
AU - Fairley, Christopher K.
AU - Morrow, Andrea
AU - Conway, E. Lynne
AU - Chuah, John
AU - McCloskey, Jenny
AU - McNulty, Anna
AU - Waddell, Russell
AU - Carter, Rob
AU - Garland, Suzanne
PY - 2009/6
Y1 - 2009/6
N2 - Background: External genital warts are a common sexually transmitted viral disease. We describe the patterns of treatment for initial presentations of external genital warts (EGWs) in Australian sexual health centers. Methods: This was a retrospective audit of 489 case notes from consecutive individuals who presented with a new diagnosis of EGWs to 1 of 5 major sexual health clinics in Australia. Eligibility criteria were consecutive patients aged 18 to 45 years inclusively, presenting with first ever episode of EGWs from January 1, 2004. Exclusion criteria were patients who were immunocompromised, including HIV infection, or enrollment in a treatment study for EGWs. Results: The median age at presentation of women was 23.2 years and of men 26.8 years. One quarter (n = 127) of patients had another sexually transmitted infection diagnosed at presentation. Nearly half of the patients (n = 224) presented only once for treatment. Most often, patients were treated with a monotherapy (n = 382/489; 78%), usually cryotherapy (257; 53%). Staff applied treatment in 361 (74%) cases. There was wide variation across sites, possibly reflecting local policies and budgets. We found no difference in wart resolution (n = 292; 60%) by initial treatment chosen. Conclusions: The diagnosis and treatment of genital warts constitute a sizable proportion of clinical visits to the audited sexual health services and require a large input of staff time to manage, including the application of topical treatments. Our results help complete the picture of the burden of EGWs on Australian sexual health centers before the introduction of the HPV vaccine.
AB - Background: External genital warts are a common sexually transmitted viral disease. We describe the patterns of treatment for initial presentations of external genital warts (EGWs) in Australian sexual health centers. Methods: This was a retrospective audit of 489 case notes from consecutive individuals who presented with a new diagnosis of EGWs to 1 of 5 major sexual health clinics in Australia. Eligibility criteria were consecutive patients aged 18 to 45 years inclusively, presenting with first ever episode of EGWs from January 1, 2004. Exclusion criteria were patients who were immunocompromised, including HIV infection, or enrollment in a treatment study for EGWs. Results: The median age at presentation of women was 23.2 years and of men 26.8 years. One quarter (n = 127) of patients had another sexually transmitted infection diagnosed at presentation. Nearly half of the patients (n = 224) presented only once for treatment. Most often, patients were treated with a monotherapy (n = 382/489; 78%), usually cryotherapy (257; 53%). Staff applied treatment in 361 (74%) cases. There was wide variation across sites, possibly reflecting local policies and budgets. We found no difference in wart resolution (n = 292; 60%) by initial treatment chosen. Conclusions: The diagnosis and treatment of genital warts constitute a sizable proportion of clinical visits to the audited sexual health services and require a large input of staff time to manage, including the application of topical treatments. Our results help complete the picture of the burden of EGWs on Australian sexual health centers before the introduction of the HPV vaccine.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=67049158245&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1097/OLQ.0b013e3181971e4e
DO - 10.1097/OLQ.0b013e3181971e4e
M3 - Article
C2 - 19556931
AN - SCOPUS:67049158245
VL - 36
SP - 375
EP - 379
JO - Sexually Transmitted Diseases
JF - Sexually Transmitted Diseases
SN - 0148-5717
IS - 6
ER -