Although they account for half of all new sexually transmitted infections, most young people between the ages of 15 and 25 have never been tested for those infections,聽according to published in the May issue of the Journal of Adolescent Health.
The 2013 survey of 3,953 adolescents and young adults by researchers at the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 11.5 percent had been tested for a sexually transmitted infection聽in the previous year, including 17 percent of females and 6 percent of males.
Overall, young people between 15 and 25 make up a quarter of the population聽who are sexually experienced. But the survey found that nearly half 鈥� 42 percent 鈥斅爋f those who had sex and had not been tested for disease thought they were not at risk.
Researchers didn鈥檛 ask the young people why they believed they weren鈥檛 at risk. But 鈥渕isunderstanding of risk and lack of access to care鈥� are recognized barriers to testing, said Kendra Cuffe, a health scientist in the Division of STD Prevention at the CDC and the study鈥檚 lead author. (STD, which stands for 鈥渟exually transmitted disease,鈥� is often used interchangeably with sexually transmitted infection.) Young people also cited worries about聽the confidentiality of testing and the cost.
Young people may be concerned about who has access to their聽private health information. Under the health law, young adults can generally stay on their parents鈥� health plan until they reach age 26. But insurers may send notices informing policyholders, in this case their parents, about services that have been provided.
If they鈥檙e older than 18, young adults 鈥渉ave the same privacy rights as other adults, but their situation is complicated because they鈥檙e on a plan with someone else who is the policyholder,鈥� said Abigail English, director of the Center for Adolescent Health & the Law.
The health law also requires insurers to cover preventive services without requiring people to pay for them if they鈥檙e recommended by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, a nonpartisan group of medical experts that makes determinations based on scientific evidence of benefits and harms. But men are at a disadvantage in some instances.
For example, the that people of both sexes be tested for HIV, but , the most common sexually transmitted infections,聽is recommended only for sexually active women, not sexually active men.
The task force concluded that there wasn鈥檛 enough information available to assess testing in men.
鈥淲e know that both women and men can get and transmit [the infections], but if it hasn鈥檛 been studied, the task force doesn鈥檛 recommend it,鈥� said English.
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