Measurement of chlamydia antibodies using residual GUM specimens
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigation of measured antibody response to Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women with known clinical histories using residual serum samples collected from genitourinary medicine (GUM) clinic attenders
IRAS ID
164453
Contact name
Sarah Woodhall
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Sheffield
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
HPSOAG237, OAG Number (PHE)
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
BACKGROUND
The National Chlamydia Screening Programme (NCSP) aims to improve the sexual health of young people in England. It is important that Public Health England (PHE) is able to demonstrate this through the reduction in both the number of infections and disease it may cause, including pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy (EP) and tubal factor infertility (TFI).
Measuring the frequency of chlamydia infections and related diseases in the general population using routinely-collected data from clinics is difficult. These data only provide information on those who seek testing or care, and cannot distinguish cases of diseases caused by chlamydia from those due to other causes.
Having anti-chlamydia antibodies in the blood indicates that an individual has been infected with chlamydia, even if the infection has cleared or been treated. The proportion of people in the population that have chlamydia antibodies can therefore tell us about the amount and frequency of chlamydia in the population.
An accurate test to measure anti-chlamydia antibodies has been developed. However, in order to improve our interpretation of the test results, we need to know more about how results are affected by time since infection, repeat infection with chlamydia, and having PID.
STUDY DESIGN
We will use leftover blood that has been stored after diagnostic testing from women attending sexual health clinics with histories of chlamydia/PID diagnoses. These will be tested for antibodies at Imperial College London. We will estimate the proportion of people with antibodies in their blood and investigate how this changes by number of previous chlamydia diagnoses, time since most recent diagnosis, and presence or absence of PID.
Data will be used to help develop a statistical method of using data from studies about antibodies in the general population to measure changes in frequency of chlamydia infection and chlamydia related disease.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/NW/0042
Date of REC Opinion
13 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion