Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

Chlamydia trachomatis (‘chlamydia’) is the most commonly diagnosed bacterial sexually transmitted infection in England. Rates of chlamydia testing and diagnosis have increased over the past decade, especially following the full implementation of the National Chlamydia Screening Programme in 2008. Having antibodies to an infection indicate that someone has been previously infected, even if they have been treated, or the infection has cleared on its own. By measuring the proportion of the population with antibodies to an infection in their blood, we can estimate the proportion that has ever been exposed to antibody inducing infections. The project aimed to investigate trends in exposure to chlamydia among adults in England, and to identify factors associated with having antibodies to these infections. This project used information and stored blood samples from the Health Survey for England (HSE), a series of annual, nationally representative samples of the general population). Serum (blood) samples from HSE were tested for antibodies to chlamydia. Samples from three periods were tested, to investigate changes in exposure to infection over time: 1994-1996, 2001-2002 and 2008-2012. Samples were also tested for herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2). HSV2 is the main cause of genital herpes, which is the second most commonly diagnosed sexually transmitted virus in England. HSV2 is almost exclusively sexually transmitted and risk of acquisition is closely related to sexual behaviour. Having antibodies to HSV2 therefore provides a biological (as opposed to a self-reported) marker of sexual behaviour. The disaggregate dataset includes demographic and sexual behaviour characteristics from the HSE questionnaire to allow the investigation of risk factors associated with having antibodies to chlamydia or HSV2.

Main Topics:

This study covers the following topics: national prevalence of antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis and Herpes Simplex Virus (Type 2); sexual behaviour; demographics.

Multi-stage stratified random sample

Face-to-face interview