Condom Effectiveness for Prevention of Chlamydia trachomatis Infection

While a growing body of research is increasingly demonstrating the effectiveness of condoms in preventing STDs, the current analysis aimed to provide a disease-specific estimate for the effectives of condoms in preventing Chlamydia trachomatis infection while controlling for known exposure to infection.

Using a medical record database from a public STD clinic, the authors estimated condoms effectiveness for C. trachomatis in 1,455 patients. "Clients were classified as having known exposure to C. trachomatis if they presented to the clinic as a contact to an infected partner," wrote the researchers.

"Among clients with known exposure, 13.3 percent of consistent condom users were diagnosed with C. trachomatis infection compared to 34.4 percent of inconsistent condom users (adjusted odds ration=0.10;95 percent CI: 0.01 to 0.83). Among clients with unknown exposure, there was no observed protective effect of condoms," the authors reported.

By reporting a disease-specific estimate and restricting analyses to individuals with known exposure, the current study provides additional evidence that condoms are effective in preventing C. trachomatis infection, the researchers concluded.

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