Original articlePrevalence and correlates of chlamydia infection in Canadian street youth
Section snippets
Study design
A baseline cross-sectional study was conducted over a 9-month period from February to October 1999 in seven large urban centers across Canada (Vancouver, British Columbia; Edmonton, Alberta; Saskatoon, Saskatchewan; Winnipeg, Manitoba; Toronto, Ontario; Ottawa, Ontario; Halifax, Nova Scotia).
Recruitment of youth involved snowball sampling methods, in which news of the study was advertised verbally to potential participants without the use of specific geographic sampling frames or named
Results
From February to October 1999, 1733 youth were recruited. Three-hundred-and-seventy-eight participants were excluded either because they had never had any sexual encounters or they provided no, or insufficient, urine for testing. Of the remaining 1355 youth, 867 males and 488 females were assessed, 91.4% reporting being born in Canada with an overall mean age of 18.8 years (SD = 2.5). No statistical differences in gender, age, or sexual risk behaviors were found between those retained and those
Discussion
The C. trachomatis prevalence rate of 8.6% in our sample of street youth is almost 9 times that reported in the general Canadian youth population of 15–24 year-olds [21]. With an estimated 150,000 Canadian street youth [22] and many cases of chlamydia remaining undetected, a hidden epidemic exists in this population. School-based interventions do not reach these youth, because they often leave school prematurely. In addition, many street youth do not present themselves to physicians for
Acknowledgements
This work was funded by The Division of Community Acquired Infections, Centre for Infectious Disease Prevention and Control, Health Canada.
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