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Original research
Social mobility and gonorrhoea in Germany during 2020
  1. Mihály Sulyok1,2,
  2. Mark Walker3
  1. 1 Department of Pathology, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tubingen, Germany
  2. 2 Institute of Tropical Medicine, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tubingen, Germany
  3. 3 Faculty of Development and Society, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Mark Walker, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, S1 1WB, UK; mark_david_walker{at}yahoo.co.uk

Abstract

Objectives The incidence of STIs is likely to be related to levels of social activity and mobility. Novel datasets detailing levels of social activity were made widely available during the COVID-19 pandemic. These allow the relationship between activity and STI incidence to be examined.

Methods The correlation between social activities and the reported number of gonorrhoea cases between March and December 2020 in Germany was studied. Regression through Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) time series modelling identified those activities associated with case numbers.

Results ARIMA regression identified a significant association with ‘transit’ activity within the Apple data and ‘parks’ within Google.

Conclusions This study illustrates the potential newly available measures of social activity provided for STI research. Reductions in STI incidence are likely to have occurred due to COVID-19 social restrictions. Although other studies report reductions in infectious diseases during this period, few examine the potential social factors mediating this. The results illustrate the continual need for sexual health services throughout the pandemic.

  • gonorrhoea
  • epidemiology
  • sexual behaviour

Data availability statement

Data are available upon reasonable request. Data were obtained from publicly accessible databases: Apple’s Mobility Trends Reports (http//covid19.apple.com/mobility); Google’s Community Movement Records (www.google.com/covid19/mobility/); The Oxford Coronavirus Governmental Response Tracker (www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/research-projects/coronavirus-government-response-tracker); Robert Koch Institute Survstat (www.rki.de/EN/Content/infections/epidemiology/SurvStat/survstat_node.html).

This article is made freely available for personal use in accordance with BMJ’s website terms and conditions for the duration of the covid-19 pandemic or until otherwise determined by BMJ. You may use, download and print the article for any lawful, non-commercial purpose (including text and data mining) provided that all copyright notices and trade marks are retained.

https://bmj.com/coronavirus/usage

https://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2021-055159

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    Data availability statement

    Data are available upon reasonable request. Data were obtained from publicly accessible databases: Apple’s Mobility Trends Reports (http//covid19.apple.com/mobility); Google’s Community Movement Records (www.google.com/covid19/mobility/); The Oxford Coronavirus Governmental Response Tracker (www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/research/research-projects/coronavirus-government-response-tracker); Robert Koch Institute Survstat (www.rki.de/EN/Content/infections/epidemiology/SurvStat/survstat_node.html).

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    Footnotes

    • Handling editor Laith J Abu-Raddad

    • Contributors Development of research question—MW. Methodology—MS. Data analysis and exploration—MS. Writing of article—MS and MW. Editing—MS and MW. Final checking—MS and MW. Responsible for overall content—MW.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Supplemental material This content has been supplied by the author(s). It has not been vetted by BMJ Publishing Group Limited (BMJ) and may not have been peer-reviewed. Any opinions or recommendations discussed are solely those of the author(s) and are not endorsed by BMJ. BMJ disclaims all liability and responsibility arising from any reliance placed on the content. Where the content includes any translated material, BMJ does not warrant the accuracy and reliability of the translations (including but not limited to local regulations, clinical guidelines, terminology, drug names and drug dosages), and is not responsible for any error and/or omissions arising from translation and adaptation or otherwise.