The Elephant Never Forgets; Piloting a Chlamydia and Gonorrhea Retesting Reminder Postcard in an STD Clinic Setting

Abstract

We examined the number and proportion of persons retesting and reinfected with Chlamydia and/or gonorrhea 3 to 4 months after initial infection in one New York City sexually transmitted disease clinic using a reminder postcard compared to clinics not using this reminder. Retesting increased; however, the proportion reinfected was lower during the intervention.

Dual Intervention to Increase Chlamydia Retesting

“…43 As seen in other studies, a high percentage (14%) of repeat infections was detected at 1-4 months. However, unlike the majority of previous retesting interventions, 27,[43][44][45]48 more repeat infections were detected in the intervention arm compared with the control arm, and repeat positivity was significantly higher among MSM. Table 1.…”

Short message service reminder intervention doubles sexually transmitted infection/HIV re-testing rates among men who have sex with men

“…To our knowledge, this is the first published study to demonstrate improved HIV/STI re-testing in MSM through SMS reminders 6 7. The SMS programme had a number of favourable attributes: it allowed large numbers of messages to be sent simultaneously and automatically, reminders were direct, immediate and cheap to send and required minimal labour.…”

The utility of short message service (SMS) texts to remind patients at higher risk of STIs and HIV to reattend for testing: a controlled before and after study: Table 1

“…Other methods of recalling patients have also been evaluated elsewhere. Postcard reminders for retesting following a positive chlamydia test have been shown to increase retesting rates from 7.7% to 14.1% 9. Telephone recall of MSM who were diagnosed with a bacterial STI led to a 68.4% retesting rate after 3 months, although the patients were called up to four times 10.…”