BACKGROUND Chlamydia infections are common in both men and women, are often asymptomatic and can cause serious complications. Repeat testing in high-risk groups is therefore indicated. In the Netherlands, guidelines on repeat chlamydia testing differ between testing facilities, and knowledge on repeat testing behaviour is limited. Here, we analyse the current repeat testing behaviour of heteros...

BACKGROUND Although the tendency to repeat examinations is a major determinant of the capacity to serve new patients and of the ability to contain health care costs, little research has described the patterns observed in actual practice. METHODS We investigated patterns of repeat testing in a longitudinal study of a 5% random sample of Medicare beneficiaries, restricted to 743,478 fee-for-ser...

BACKGROUND Reactive oral fluid and whole blood rapid HIV tests must be followed with a confirmatory test (Western blot (WB), immunofluorescent assay (IFA) or approved nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT)). When the confirmatory result is negative or indeterminate (i.e. discordant with rapid result), repeat confirmatory testing should be conducted using a follow-up specimen. Previous reports h...

OBJECTIVES To examine the prevalence of and factors associated with potentially unnecessary repeat confirmatory testing after initial HIV diagnosis and the relationship of repeat testing to medical care engagement. DESIGN South Carolina HIV/AIDS surveillance data for 12,504 individuals who were newly diagnosed with HIV infection between January 1997 and December 2008 were used for this analys...