Authors' recommendations: Urine specimens are somewhat less sensitive (ie, miss more cases) than vaginal and cervical specimens. Vaginal specimens have the highest sensitivity for diagnosing chlamydia in women.Urine, vaginal, and cervical specimens have similar specificity. In other words, they are equally likely to yield a correct, ie, negative, finding in women who are not infected.The scientific evidence is insufficient to compare the diagnostic accuracy of urine specimens alone versus various combinations of specimens, since only one study in the assessment included such a comparison.The scientific evidence is insufficient to draw conclusions on the cost-effectiveness of using urine specimens as the only test for establishing a chlamydia diagnosis in women. Too few studies of sufficient quality are available. The total cost of chlamydia testing is influenced mainly by how specimens are taken. Vaginal and urine specimens can be collected by the patient herself. This lowers the cost in comparison to taking cervical specimens, where health professionals must collect the specimen.

Project Status: Completed

URL for project: www.sbu.se/201005e

Year Published: 2010

URL for published report: www.sbu.se/201005

English language abstract: An English language summary is available

Publication Type: Not Assigned

Country: Sweden

Organisation Name: Swedish Agency for Health Technology Assessment and Assessment of Social Services

Contact Address: P.O. Box 3657, SE-103 59 Stockholm, Sweden. Tel: +46 8 4123200, Fax: +46 8 4113260

Contact Name: registrator@sbu.se

Contact Email: registrator@sbu.se

Copyright: The Swedish Council on Health Technology Assessment (SBU)