Characteristics of men who have sex with men with confirmed rectal CT infection attending STI and dermatovenereology clinics in four European countries, stratified by LGV and non-LGV (CT) genotype, 2015–2017
| Austria | Croatia | Slovenia | UK | Total | ||||||||
| n (%) | Crude OR (95% CI) | P value | n (%) | Crude OR (95% CI) | P value | n (%) | n (%) | Crude OR (95% CI) | P value | n (%) | ||
| Number of referred rectal CT-positive specimens | 166 | 15 | 6 | 313 | 500 | |||||||
| Number of LGV-negative (%; 95% CI) | 87 (52.4; 44.8 to 59.9) | 12 (80.0; 54.8 to 93.0) | 5 (83.3; 43.7 to 97.0) | 268 (85.6; 81.3 to 89.1) | 372 (74.4; 70.4 to 78.0) | |||||||
| Number of LGV-positive* (%; 95% CI) | 79 (47.6; 40.1 to 55.2) | 3 (20.0; 7.1 to 45.2) | 1 (16.7; 3.0 to 56.4) | 45 (14.4; 10.9 to 18.7) | 128 (25.6; 22.0 to 29.6) | |||||||
| Median age | CT LGV | 35 37 | 0.13† | 26 34 | 0.03† | 27 40–49‡ | 37 44 | 0.05† | 36 37 | |||
| HIV-positive | CT LGV | 57/75 (76.0) 57/67 (85.1) | 1.0 1.8 (0.8 to 4.3) | 0.18 | 4/11 (36.4) 3/3 (100) | 0.19† | 1/5 (20.0) 0/1 (0.0) | 87/137 (63.5) 18/22 (81.8) | 1.0 2.6 (0.8 to 8.2) | 0.09 | 149/228 (65.4) 78/93 (83.9) | |
| Symptoms at clinic attendance | CT LGV | 34/79 (43.0) 67/73 (91.8) | 1.0 14.8 (4.9 to 44.8) | <0.001 | 6/12 (50.0) 3/3 (100) | 0.23† | 5/5 (100) 0/1 (0.0) | 33/140 (23.6) 10/22 (45.5) | 1.0 2.7 (1.1 to 6.9) | 0.03 | 78/236 (33.1) 80/99 (80.8) | |
| Proctitis | CT LGV | 32/79 (40.5) 67/73 (91.8) | 1.0 16.4 (5.3 to 50.7) | <0.001 | 3/12 (25.0) 3/3 (100) | 0.04† | 2/5 (40.0) 0/1 (0.0) | 15/128 (11.7) 11/21 (52.4) | 1.0 8.3 (2.8 to 24.7) | <0.001 | 52/224 (23.2) 81/98 (82.7) | |
| Previous CT | CT LGV | 15/75 (20.0) 24/67 (35.8) | 1.0 2.2 (1.03 to 4.8) | 0.04 | 2/9 (22.2) – | 0/5 (0.0) 0/1 (0.0) | 28/124 (22.6) 7/21 (33.3) | 1.0 1.7 (0.6 to 4.7) | 0.29 | 45/213 (21.1) 31/89 (34.8) | ||
| STI coinfection§ | CT LGV | 28/87 (32.2) 22/79 (27.9) | – – | – – | 3/10 (30.0) 1/3 (33.3) | 1.00† | 3/5 (60.0) 0/1 (0.0) | 49/134 (36.6) 12/19 (63.2) | 1.0 3.0 (1.1 to 8.2) | 0.03 | 83/236 (35.2) 35/102 (34.3) | |
| Chemsex (previous 3 months) | CT LGV | – – | – – | – – | – – | – – | – – | 0/5 (0.0) 0/1 (0.0) | 30/119 (25.2) 6/19 (31.6) | 1.0 1.4 (0.5 to 3.9) | 0.56 | 30/124 (24.2) 6/20 (30.0) |
| Sex abroad | CT LGV | – – | – – | – – | 3/12 (25.0)¶ 3/3 (100)** | 0.04† | 3/5 (60.0)† 1/1 (100)‡‡ | 17/122 (13.9)§§ 2/18 (11.1)¶¶ | 1.0† | 23/139 (16.5) 6/22 (27.3) | ||
No proformas completed for Austria, but some limited data available. Proformas were completed for 162 of 344 patients from the UK. Statistical analysis only performed when variable completion was >80%, and no analysis of the Slovenian data set due to low numbers. P-values in bold represent significance (p<0.05).
*Includes a LGV-positive lymph node punctate from Croatia and three equivocal results: one in Austria and two in the UK.
†P value from Mann-Whitney test for age distribution or Fisher’s exact test due to small cell sizes.
‡Age range listed to avoid deductive disclosure.
§Not including HIV; includes only rectal gonorrhoea for Austrian patients; one UK non-LGV-CT patient had concurrent Shigella sp. infection.Number of patients who reported sex abroad in the previous 3 months and region;
¶3 EU.
**1 EU, 2 non-EU.
††2 EU, 1 non-EU.
‡‡1 both EU/non-EU.
§§10 EU, 6 non-EU, 1 both EU/non-EU.
¶¶2 EU.
CT, Chlamydia trachomatis; EU, European Union; LGV, lymphogranuloma venereum.