Ana Pinto de Oliveira
Arnaldo Sampaio Public Health Unit | Portugal
Title: Prevalence of sexually transmitted infections and their underreporting in a health region of Portugal, from 2015 to 2017
Biography
Biography: Ana Pinto de Oliveira
Abstract
Although public health surveillance system data are widely used to describe the epidemiology of communicable disease,
occurrence of sexually transmitted infections may be misrepresented by under-reporting. Reporting of cases of notifiable
sexually transmitted infections is important in the planning and evaluation of disease prevention and control programs, in the
assurance of appropriate medical therapy, and in the detection of common-source outbreaks.
This study was carried out to examine the relationship between case-reporting of notifiable sexually transmitted infections in
the Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System and the medical diagnosis recorded in Health Management Information System,
of Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley.
Data on reported cases of notifiable sexually transmitted infections, in the geographical area covered by Arco Ribeirinho Health
Centre Assembly, from January 2015 to December 2017, were obtained from the Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System at
Arnaldo Sampaio Public Health. Data regard medical diagnosis in the same geographical area and time period were achieved
in Health Management Information System, of Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley.
From 2015 to 2017, 167 cases of sexually transmitted infections were notified in Ribeirinho Health Centre Assembly. Twentyeight
perccnt of cases were syphilis, 25.7% of cases were gonorrhoeae, 18.5% of cases were VIH and 27.7% of cases were notified
with at least one other STI. Most of reported cases were observed in Alto Seixalinho (27.5%), Baixa da Banheira (19.1%), and
Montijo-Afonsoeiro (16.1%) counties.
Of 487 STIs medical diagnosis, 92 were reported to the National System Epidemiological Surveillance, corresponding to 65.7%
of underreporting. The majority of these under-reported cases were for VHB and VHC (92.2%) and VIH (80.9%). This study
underlines the need to increase the percentage of STIs notified to the Health Authority.