Abstract
Background To investigate the long-term trends of five kinds of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) from 2008 to 2017 in the Department of Dermatology and Venereology in a large comprehensive teaching hospital in China.
Methods We conducted a retrospective analysis of all recorded data which focused on five STIs: syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, genital herpes and HIV/AIDS. We also performed stratified analyses of the age and gender of patients with STIs.
Results There were 34,644 STI cases diagnosed: syphilis accounted for 53.43% (18,512), gonorrhea 20.86% (7,228), chlamydia 17.53% (6,072), genital herpes 7.96% (2,757), HIV/AIDS 0.22% (75), respectively. Cases of syphilis significantly increased, while cases of gonorrhea, chlamydia and genital herpes showed a rapid decrease. HIV/AIDS-diagnosed cases had been rare, but were rising in recent years. The top age group for STI prevalence was 20–39 years with a rate of 70.36%. Men were more affected by STIs than women (male:female ratio 1.40:1), but a lower proportion of men than women had syphilis (0.87:1).
Conclusion The considerable changes in the prevalence of the five STIs reported in this study highlight the need for improvement in the prevention of STIs and stronger screening efforts to curb STI transmission in young, sexually active people in a timely manner.