Empirical treatment of asymptomatic contacts of gonorrhoea: patient views.

Abstract

We conducted an anonymous cross-sectional survey of patients attending sexual health centres in New South Wales, Australia, on the acceptability of empirical and non-empirical treatment models and patients' concerns about antimicrobial resistance. Most of the 823 survey participants were willing to wait for treatment until their results were reported; 77% and 53% would agree to wait for treatment if results were available in 2 and 7 days respectively. Participants were less likely to agree to non-empirical treatment if they lived in regional and remote areas compared with those in a major city (odds ratio (OR) 0.5; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.35-0.73). Most participants (70%) were worried about infections becoming resistant to antibiotics, with heterosexual men and women being less likely than gay and bisexual men to be worried (heterosexual men: OR 0.64, 95% CI 0.44-0.94; women: OR 0.64 95%, CI 0.44-0.92). Non-empirical treatment was acceptable to most participants, but patient preference, ability to return for treatment and timeliness of results are factors that should inform individual treatment decisions.