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. 2007 Mar 21;45(5):1395–1402. doi: 10.1128/JCM.00100-07

TABLE 3.

Association between organism load in matched specimens and clinical signs or symptoms in men or women infected with C. trachomatis

Symptom or clinical sign Organism load (no. of EBs/100 μl)
Associationb (P value) Correlationc (r)
Symptom or sign absent
Symptom or sign present
Mean πLa πUa Mean πL πU
Male FVU samples
    Dysuria 513 8.4 31,445 2,080 27.3 158,198 0.0057
    ≥1 clinical sign 64 2.5 1,658 1,394 18.7 103,985 0.0074
    ≥1 symptom 240 3.5 16,541 1,772 27.8 113,006 0.0012
    Nonspecific urethritis 113 2.6 4,978 2,143 47.8 96,028 <0.0001
    PMNLs/HPF 0.0024 0.3346
Male urethral swabs
    Dysuria 357 0.9 141,210 1,237 19.0 80,402 0.0930
    ≥1 clinical sign 8 0.0 3,586 953 9.5 95,416 0.0012
    ≥1 symptom 43 0.2 720 1,339 20.2 88,823 <0.0001
    Nonspecific urethritis 88 0.2 38,407 1,300 18.5 91,418 0.0133
    PMNLs/HPF 0.0830 0.2276
Female FVU samples
    ≥2 symptoms or ≥ 1 signd 27 0.2 3,205 114 0.5 25,084 0.0174
    Nonspecific cervicitise 21 0.1 5,105 99 1.0 9,574 0.0095
    PMNLs/HPF 0.0901 0.1945
Female urethral swabs
    ≥2 symptoms or ≥ 1 sign 106 0.4 27,610 188 0.9 40,301 0.3577
    Nonspecific cervicitis 69 0.3 1,130 262 1.4 49,178 0.0295
    PMNLs/HPF 0.0507 0.2165
SCVSs
    ≥2 symptoms or ≥ 1 sign 1,495 4.8 466,401 3,605 8.6 1,508,762 0.1878
    Nonspecific cervicitis 250 0.9 71,998 2,018 3.5 1,155,912 0.0036
    PMNLs/HPF 0.0025 0.3377
Endocervical swabs
    ≥2 symptoms or ≥1 sign 314 0.5 187,138 1,826 5.6 592,437 0.0157
    Nonspecific cervicitis 545 3.3 88,965 8,866 39 2,021,196 <0.0001
    PMNLs/HPF <0.0001 0.4406
a

πL and πU, lower and upper limits, respectively, of the 95% CI for the mean organism load, rounded to the nearest decimal point, in the 58 infected male patients with both sample types and 73 infected female patients with all four sample types.

b

Association between organism load in matched specimens and clinical signs or symptoms was evaluated by two-sample t tests with natural log transformation. P values that are statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05) are shown in bold type.

c

Correlation of organism load with PMNLs/HPF was assessed with Pearson's correlation coefficient (r).

d

Women reporting two or more specific symptoms (vaginal discharge, irregular bleeding, or pelvic or abdominal pain) or manifesting one or more specific clinical signs (mucopurulent cervical discharge, cervical motion tenderness, or pelvic or adnexal tenderness).

e

The diagnosis of nonspecific cervicitis was based on the presence of a mucopurulent cervical discharge or >40 PMNLs/HPF on the endocervical smear (or both).