Sexual behavioral factors of the subjects visiting the clinic of sexually transmitted infections in Northern Finland: A cross‐sectional study among 775 subjects

• Published in: Health Science Reports
• Main Authors: Repo, Iiro, Sopenlehto, Atte, Huilaja, Laura, Jokelainen, Jari, Kiviniemi, Eetu, Sinikumpu, Suvi‐Päivikki
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2023
• Subjects: Original Research; Northern Finland
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10320696/; https://doi.org/10.1002/hsr2.1407

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Sexually transmitted infections (STI) are among the most common infections globally. However, the sexual behavioral factors and sexual history of people visiting STI clinics have only been surveyed in a few studies. We aimed to evaluate the characteristics of the patients visiting the open STI clinic. METHODS: This is a prospective observational study performed in the STI clinic in the premises of Department of Dermatology, Oulu University Hospital. All individuals (n = 775) attending the STI clinic between February and August 2022 were included to the study and the profile of the patients was evaluated. RESULTS: We found that the majority of the STI clinic attendees (58.5%) were female. Mean age of the study population was 28.9 years, with females being significantly younger than males (p < 0.001). Only one‐third (30.6%) of the patients reported having symptoms at the time of attending. Most commonly, patients had had one sex partner in the last 6 months. However, one‐fifth (21.7%) reported several sex partners (over four). Almost half of the patients (47.6%) reported using a condom only randomly. Those with heterosexual orientation had fewer multiple‐sex partners (p < 0.001) than those with homo‐ or bisexual orientation (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: It is important to increase knowledge about the profile of STI clinic visitors to effectively target STI prevention on the groups at the highest risk of STIs.