Despite increasingly high numbers of sexually transmitted disease cases, young women who are sexually active often do not talk to their clinicians about sex and STD risk, with 1 in 4 clinicians disregarding screening guidelines if a patient is shows no symptoms, according to a survey conducted by Quest Diagnostics.
The survey gathered data from young women ages 15 to 24, mothers of young women in this age group, primary care physicians, OB-GYNs and other specialty physicians to determine their perceptions about sexual activity, sexual health and knowledge of and screening for STDs.
The survey received a total of 4,742 respondents, comprised of 3,414 young women between the ages of 15 to 24. Most clinician survey data presented in the survey comes from the responses of 100 primary care physicians.
Each respondent completed 15- to 30-minute online surveys regarding their perceptions and knowledge of STDs, chlamydia testing and gonorrhea testing.
Here are seven survey findings.
1. Just over half of young women (56 percent) said they are sexually active. Of those who are sexually active, 56 percent said they have been tested for an STD. Young sexually active women reported "not feeling at risk" (62 percent) and "being asymptomatic" (55 percent) as reasons for not testing. Of the women who are sexually active, 86 percent and 88 percent said they are not at risk for chlamydia or gonorrhea, respectively.
2. Fifty-one percent of young women said they do not wish discuss sex or STDs with their clinicians.
3. Over one-fourth (27 percent) of sexually active young women admitted they are not always entirely honest when discussing their sexual history with their clinician. For the youngest sexually active women (ages 15 to 17), 43 percent are not always truthful.
4. Nearly half (49 percent) of young women reported their clinician has never asked if they wanted STD testing. Less than 1 in 4 sexually active women said they have asked their healthcare professional for an STD test.
5. Clinicians also appear to be uncomfortable discussing STDs. One in four (24 percent) of primary care physicians agreed with the statement, "I am very uncomfortable discussing STI risk with my female patients."
6. Twenty-seven percent of primary care physicians reported they could accurately diagnose STD patients "based on their symptoms," despite the fact that STDs do not always cause symptoms.
7. Only 74 percent of primary care physicians said they would order chlamydia testing for an asymptomatic, sexually active female patient. Additionally, only 72 percent would order gonorrhea testing for an asymptomatic patient.