Clin Infect Dis. 2022 May 20:ciac370. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac370. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: In 2018, the municipal Sexual Health Clinic in Seattle implemented trans-inclusive questions about sexual behavior, anatomy, gender-affirming surgeries, and STI symptoms in the clinic’s computer-assisted self-interview (CASI) to improve care for transgender and non-binary (TNB) patients.
METHODS: We calculated test positivity and the proportion of TNB patient visits that received testing for HIV, syphilis, pharyngeal, rectal and urogenital gonorrhea (GC) and chlamydia (CT) before (5/2016-12/2018) and after (12/2018-2/2020) implementation of new CASI questions. We then calculated the proportion of asymptomatic patients who received anatomic-site specific screening based on reported exposures.
RESULTS: There were 434 TNB patients with 489 and 337 clinic visits during the two periods, respectively. Non-binary patients assigned male at birth (AMAB) had the highest prevalence of GC (10% pharyngeal, 14% rectal, 12% urogenital). Transgender women, transgender men, and non-binary people AMAB had a high prevalence of rectal CT (10%, 9%, and 13%, respectively) and syphilis (9%, 5%, and 8%). Asymptomatic transgender women, transgender men and non-binary patients AMAB who reported exposures were more likely to receive extragenital GC/CT screening compared to non-binary patients assigned female at birth. After implementing trans-inclusive medical history questions, there was a 33% increase in the number of annual TNB patient visits, but no statistically significant increase HIV/STI testing among TNB patients.
CONCLUSIONS: TNB people at our clinic had a high prevalence of extragenital STIs and syphilis. Implementation of trans-inclusive medical history questions at a clinic that serves cisgender and transgender patients was feasible and important for improving the quality of affirming and inclusive sexual healthcare.
PMID:35594554 | DOI:10.1093/cid/ciac370
