At Home Collection: Removing Barriers to STI Detection & Diagnosis

It has been publicly stated by the CDC that one in 5 Americans had an STI in 2018 and costs our healthcare system roughly $16 billion in direct medical costs. Routine sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening is a critical part of health monitoring among sexually active individuals and an important public health issue.

During the pandemic there was an increased demand for self-collected sampling (SCS) screening for STIs. SCS in combination with telemedicine services for managing and treating STIs removes barriers of privacy, social stigma and access to care in rural areas. Nearly half of all new STI asymptomatic infections are in young adults aged 15-24, in which barriers such as social stigma and access to care are easily resolved with at-home testing in combination with telehealth. This combination of testing services has shown comparable NPV compared to standard of care collection by a healthcare provider, and is becoming more widely accepted within the regulatory world. Similar lab testing methodologies are used when screening for STI by at-home SCS showing comparable analytical sensitivity and specificity. The ability to receive high-quality accessible STI screening and diagnostic results (where applicable) via At-home testing provides an effective solution to sexually active individuals to take care of their own healthcare.

Learning Objectives:

1. Discuss the differences in standard of care (SOC) testing and self-collection sampling (SCS) for STI testing, as whereas where current regulation stands.

2. Explain the accuracy of at-home testing.

3. Recognize the importance of telemedicine in providing access to care in STIS.