Prevalence of Chlamydia in young men in the United States from newly implemented universal screening in a national job training program.

Objective: The objective of this study was to examine chlamydia prevalence and its risk factors from the first universal screening in socioeconomically disadvantaged young men.

Goal: The goal of this study was to evaluate the need for universal screening in young men.

Study Design: We calculated chlamydia prevalence by demographic and geographic characteristics from 51,478 men aged 16 to 24 years who were screened from July 2003 to December 2004.

Results: Overall, chlamydia prevalence was 8.2%. Only 2.4% of the young men had sexually transmitted disease symptoms. Blacks had the highest prevalence (13.0%), whereas non-Hispanic whites had the lowest (3.1%). Men who smoked marijuana had a significantly higher prevalence compared with those who did not (11.9% vs. 6.4%). Men who used cocaine or PCP also had a significantly higher chlamydia prevalence compared with those who did not. Men who lived in the southern region of the United States had the highest prevalence.

Conclusions: Chlamydial infection is highly prevalent among socioeconomically disadvantaged young men. Young men entering the National Job Training Program represent an important population for screening.