Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2023 Nov 1.
Published in final edited form as: Sex Transm Infect. 2023 Mar 8;99(7):433–439. doi: 10.1136/sextrans-2022-055696

Table 1.

Baseline characteristics, by STI diagnosis (N=451)

N. gonorrhoeae (n=35) C. trachomatis (n=136) T. vaginalis (n=28) Any STI at baseline (n=174) No STI at baseline (n=277) p-values
Site 0.0001
  Cape Town, South Africa 21 (60%) 56 (41%) 7 (25%) 72 (41%) 69 (25%)
  Johannesburg, South Africa 6 (17%) 50 (37%) 10 (36%) 62 (36%) 100 (36%)
  Harare, Zimbabwe 8 (23%) 30 (22%) 11 (39%) 40 (23%) 108 (39%)
Age (years) 0.036
  Median (IQR) 20 (18, 21) 20 (19, 22) 21 (20, 24) 20 (19, 22) 21 (19, 23)
Lives with 0.080
  Partner 5 (14%) 24 (18%) 8(29%) 31 (18%) 67 (24%)
  Parents and/or siblings 24 (69%) 75 (55%) 14 (50%) 98 (56%) 160 (58%)
  Others 6 (17%) 37 (27%) 6 (21%) 45 (26%) 50 (18%)
Partner age difference 0.154
  Less than 5 years 29 (83%) 97 (71%) 19 (68%) 125 (72%) 177 (64%)
  >=5 and <10 years 6 (17%) 31 (23%) 7 (25%) 40 (23%) 75 (27%)
  >=10 years 0 (0%) 8 (6%) 2 (7%) 9 (5%) 25 (9%)
Partner has made you feel unsafe, afraid, or in danger in past year 9 (26%) 20(15%) 3 (11%) 27 (16%) 63 (23%) 0.069
CES-D Depression Score ≥ 10 * 21 (60%) 79 (58%) 16 (57%) 102 (59%) 166 (60%) 0.765
Contraceptive method 0.045
  Injectable Contraceptives 23 (66%) 68 (50%) 7 (25%) 87 (50%) 104 (38%)
  Implants 5 (14%) 25 (18%) 10 (36%) 35 (20%) 69 (25%)
  IUD-copper/hormone 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 4 (1%)
  Sterilization 0 (0%) 0 (0%) 1 (4%) 1 (1%) 0 (0%)
  Oral Contraceptives 1 (3%) 18 (13%) 6 (21%) 20 (11%) 34 (12%)
  Condoms, natural methods or none 6 (17%) 25 (19%) 4 (15%) 31 (18%) 66 (24%)
Transactional sex, past month 7 (20%) 28 (21%) 12 (43%) 42 (24%) 59 (21%) 0.489
Anal sex, past month
  Yes 7 (20%) 21 (15%) 2/28 (7%) 27 (16%) 41 (15%) 0.391
  No 20 (57%) 78 (57%) 17 (61%) 101 (58%) 146 (53%)
  Prefer not to answer 8 (23%) 37 (27%) 9 (32%) 46 (26%) 90 (32%)
No. vaginal sex episodes, past month 0.307
Median (IQR) 5 (2, 10) 4 (2, 6) 6 (4, 12) 4 (2, 8) 4 (3, 8)
Condom use at last vaginal sex ** 8 (29%) 33 (31%) 7 (29%) 44 (31%) 96 (45%) 0.033
Co-infection with other STI
  C. trachomatis 19 (54%) 136 (100%) 7 (25%) 136 (78%) 0 (0%)
  N. gonorrhoeae 35 (100%) 19 (14%) 1 (4%) 35 (20%) 0 (0%)
  T. vaginalis 1 (3%) 7 (5%) 28 (100%) 28 (16%) 0 (0%)
High self-perceived HIV risk in next year *** 1 (3%) 10 (7%) 3 (11%) 12 (7%) 22 (8%) 0.430
Modified VOICE risk score **** 0.544
  Median (IQR) 7 (6, 8) 7 (5, 7) 6 (5, 7) 7 (6, 7) 7 (5, 7)
PrEP accepted at baseline 33 (94%) 120 (88%) 27 (96%) 157 (90%) 255 (92%) 0.500
*

Missing values imputed, n=9 missing responses

**

Missing responses n=33 for those with STI and n= 66 those with no STI

***

Missing responses n=2 for those with no STI

****

Modified Risk Score does not include score for curable STI at baseline; includes age <25 years = 2 >=25 years = 0, married or living with primary partner No=2 Yes =0, partner provides material support No=1 Yes =0, primary partner has other partners Yes =2 Don’t know =2 No =0