Return of Positive Test Results to Participants in Sexually Transmitted Infection Prevalence Studies: Research Ethics and Responsibilities.

Background: In prevalence studies of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), investigators often provide syndromic management for symptomatic participants but may not provide specific treatment for asymptomatic individuals with positive laboratory test results because of the delays between sample collection and availability of results as well as logistical constraints in recontacting study participants.

Methods: To characterize the extent of this issue, 80 prevalence studies from the World Health Organization's Report on Global Sexually Transmitted Infection Surveillance, 2018, were reviewed. Studies were classified as to whether clinically relevant positive results were returned or if this was not specified.

Coauthor Country Affiliations in International Collaborative Research Funded by the US National Institutes of Health, 2009 to 2017.

Importance: The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest funder of biomedical and behavioral research in the world. International collaborative research-a subset of NIH's portfolio-is critical to furthering the agency's health research mission.

Objective: To quantify the extent of the NIH's international collaborations and the relative importance of this research through the lens of publications.