Epidemiology of gonorrhoea-related hospitalisations in Spain between 1997 and 2006.

OBJECTIVE

The prevalence of gonorrhoea has increased worldwide in the last few years. Gonorrhoea is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the world, and is a serious public health problem because of its associated morbidity and complications. The objective of this study was to estimate the frequency of gonorrhoea-related hospitalisations in Spain between the years 1997 and 2006.

STUDY

DESIGN

A retrospective epidemiological study was conducted using data from the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (Minimum Data Set [MDS]), where all of the gonorrhoea-related hospitalisations that occurred in Spain during this period were analysed. We calculated the general hospitalisation rates, mortality, case-fatality rate, and length of stay by gender and age.

RESULTS

During the course of the study, 928 hospitalisations occurred with a discharge diagnosis of gonorrhoea infection (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification: ICD 9 CM 098.0-098.89 at any diagnostic position), which represented a hospitalisation rate of 0.23 per 100,000 population, a mortality rate of 0.008 per 100,000 population, and a case-fatality of 3.77%. The main suspected causes of death were staphylococcal and streptococcal infections, malignant neoplasm and chronic diseases. The greatest hospitalisation rate was observed in children between the ages of 0 and 4years.

CONCLUSIONS

The gonorrhoea-related hospitalisation rate in Spain remained constant during the period of the study. A better understanding of the epidemiology of gonorrhoea will allow for the creation of effective preventive measures that will lead to a reduction in the number of new infections.