Resumen

Objective: The prevalence of gonorrhoea has increased worldwide in the last few years. Gonorrhoea is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the world, and is a serious public health problem because of its associated morbidity and complications. The objective of this study was to estimate the frequency of gonorrhoea-related hospitalisations in Spain between the years 1997 and 2006. Study design: A retrospective epidemiological study was conducted using data from the National Epidemiological Surveillance System (Minimum Data Set [MDS]), where all of the gonorrhoea-related hospitalisations that occurred in Spain during this period were analysed. We calculated the general hospitalisation rates, mortality, case-fatality rate, and length of stay by gender and age. Results: During the course of the study, 928 hospitalisations occurred with a discharge diagnosis of gonorrhoea infection (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification: ICD 9 CM 098.0–098.89 at any diagnostic position), which represented a hospitalisation rate of 0.23 per 100,000 population, a mortality rate of 0.008 per 100,000 population, and a case-fatality of 3.77%. The main suspected causes of death were staphylococcal and streptococcal infections, malignant neoplasm and chronic diseases. The greatest hospitalisation rate was observed in children between the ages of 0 and 4 years. Conclusions: The gonorrhoea-related hospitalisation rate in Spain remained constant during the period of the study. A better understanding of the epidemiology of gonorrhoea will allow for the creation of effective preventive measures that will lead to a reduction in the number of new infections. (Resumen extraído del artículo)