Determinants of time between consecutive consultations among men who have sex with men aged 14–89 years, who tested multiple times at STI clinics in the Netherlands between 1 June 2014 and 31 December 2015; Cox Prentice-Williams-Peterson gap-time models, stratified for inconsistent and consistent testers
| Inconsistent testers | Consistent (6-monthly) testers | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crude | Adjusted | Crude | Adjusted | |
| HR (95% CI) | HR† (95% CI) | HR (95% CI) | HR†¶ (95% CI) | |
| Number of sex partners in the past six months | ||||
| 0–2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 3–4 | 0.87 (0.81–0.93) | 0.87** (0.81–0.94) | 1.10 (1.02–1.19) | 1.10* (1.01–1.19) |
| 5–9 | 0.91 (0.85–0.98) | 0.92* (0.86–0.99) | 1.11 (1.03–1.20) | 1.11* (1.03–1.20) |
| 10+ | 0.92 (0.86–0.98) | 0.93* (0.86–0.99) | 1.19 (1.11–1.27) | 1.17** (1.08–1.26) |
| Condom use at last contact ‡ | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 0.96 (0.92–1.00) | – | 0.96 (0.91–1.00) | – |
| Received partner notification | ||||
| No | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Yes | 1.15 (1.09–1.22) | 1.11** (1.05–1.18) | 1.44 (1.35–1.53) | 1.32** (1.23–1.40) |
| Reported STI symptoms | ||||
| No | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Yes | 1.15 (1.09–1.21) | 1.09** (1.04–1.16) | 1.40 (1.32–1.48) | 1.24** (1.16–1.31) |
| Known HIV positive | ||||
| No | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Yes | 1.15 (1.08–1.22) | 1.10* (1.03–1.17) | 1.42 (1.33–1.51) | 1.31** (1.21–1.40) |
| Commercial sex worker‡ | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 1.01 (0.86–1.20) | – | 1.29 (1.12–1.49) | – |
| Client of commercial sex worker§ | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 0.97 (0.85–1.11) | – | 1.11 (0.95–1.30) | – |
| Positive chlamydia diagnosis§ | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 0.95 (0.88–1.02) | – | 1.20 (1.11–1.30) | – |
| Positive gonorrhoea diagnosis‡ | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 1.06 (0.99–1.14) | – | 1.31 (1.22–1.41) | – |
| Positive syphilis diagnosis§ | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 1.06 (0.92–1.21) | – | 1.11 (0.98–1.26) | – |
| Positive HIV diagnosis§ | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 0.96 (0.69–1.34) | – | 1.12 (0.79–1.60) | – |
| Positive chlamydia diagnosis at previous consult | ||||
| No | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Yes | 1.16 (1.08–1.25) | 1.11* (1.03–1.20) | 1.21 (1.13–1.30) | 1.08* (1.00–1.17) |
| Positive gonorrhoea diagnosis at previous consult | ||||
| No | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Yes | 1.20 (1.11–1.29) | 1.13* (1.04–1.23) | 1.27 (1.18–1.36) | 1.09* (1.01–1.18) |
| Positive syphilis diagnosis at previous consult | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 1.21 (1.08–1.35) | – | 1.22 (1.08–1.37) | – |
| Positive HIV diagnosis at previous consult§ | ||||
| No | 1 | – | 1 | – |
| Yes | 0.97 (0.76–1.22) | – | 0.97 (0.69–1.35) | – |
*p Value<0.05.
**p Value<0.001.
†Adjusted for age, region of STI clinic and socioeconomic status as well.
‡Excluded from multivariable analysis during backward elimination.
§Not included in multivariable analysis due to low significance univariable analysis (p value > 0.1).
¶Example of interpretation: consistent testers who received partner notification were 1.32 times more likely to return to the STI clinic at any point in time compared with consistent testers who did not receive partner notification.