[Self-collected and mailed samples for diagnosis of urogenital Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women]

The study compared urine and vaginal flush samples, collected by women at home by endocervical and urine swabs obtained from their general practitioners, for their efficacy in the diagnosis of Chlamydia trachomatis infection. The study was a multipractice study in 33 general practices. A total of 222 women aged 18-25 years, who attended the general practitioner for a gynaecological examination, were included. Diagnostic tests-eight per woman-were performed by the polymerase chain reaction and the ligase chain reaction. A test was considered true positive if two tests or more were positive The prevalence of infection was 11.2% (23/205). Test sensitivity in samples obtained by general practitioners, samples obtained at home subjected to polymerase chain reaction, and samples obtained at home subjected to ligase chain reaction were 91%, 96%, and 100% respectively. The corresponding specificities were 100%, 92.9% and 99.5%. It is concluded that the diagnostic efficacy of samples obtained at home is as good as tests obtained by the general practitioner.