Estimating age-dependent per-encounter chlamydia trachomatis acquisition risk via a Markov-based state-transition model.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chlamydial infection is a common bacterial sexually transmitted infection worldwide, caused by C. trachomatis. The screening for C. trachomatis has been proven to be successful. However, such success is not fully realized through tailoring the recommended screening strategies for different age groups. This is partly due to the knowledge gap in understanding how the infection is correlated with age. In this paper, we estimate age-dependent risks of acquiring C. trachomatis by adolescent women via unprotected heterosexual acts.

Methods

We develop a time-varying Markov state-transition model and compute the incidences of chlamydial infection at discrete age points by simulating the state-transition model with candidate per-encounter acquisition risks and sampled numb

SUBMITTER: Teng Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4022339 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature