A Community-level RCT of Expedited Partner Treatment for Gonorrhea and Chlamydia

The Washington State Community Expedited Partner Therapy Trial is a stepped-wedge community level randomized trial designed to test the hypothesis that a public health program designed to increase the use of expedited partner therapy can decrease the prevalence of chlamydial infection in young women and the incidence of gonorrhea in Washington state. The study intervention will be modeled after and intervention previously evaluated in King County WA (Golden MR, Sex Transm Dis 2007;598-603). The intervention has two components: 1) promotion of patient delivered partner therapy (PDPT) use by medical providers in accordance with Washington state guidelines; and 2) targeted provision of partner services. PDPT use will be promoted through education and by making medication packs for PDPT available statewide. Medical providers will refer selected persons with gonorrhea or chlamydial infection for partner services based on defined criteria associated with failure to ensure partners' treatment. The intervention will be instituted in four waves separated by 6-9 months. Each wave will include approximately 6 local health jurisdictions. The order in which health jurisdictions initiate the intervention will be randomly assigned. The study's primary endpoint will be the prevalence of chlamydial infection in women age 15-25 tested through clinics participating in the state's Infertility Prevention Project (IPP) and the incidence of gonorrhea among women as determined through public health reporting.