Sociodemographic, behavioural, and clinical risk factors for macrolide resistance-conferring mutations in the 23S rRNA gene in Mycoplasma genitalium specimens from a sexually-active probability sample of the general British population
| M. genitalium with resistance-conferring mutation | Susceptible M. genitalium | Total | P value | |||||
| No. | % | 95% CI | No | 95% CI | No. | |||
| 9 | 16.1 | 8.7 to 27.8 | 47 | 83.9 | 72.2 to 91.3 | 56 | ||
| Sex | ||||||||
| Male | 3 | 14.3 | 5.0 to 34.6 | 18 | 85.7 | 65.4 to 95.0 | 21 | 1.000 |
| Female | 6 | 17.1 | 8.1 to 32.7 | 29 | 82.9 | 67.3 to 91.9 | 35 | |
| Age (years) | ||||||||
| 16–24 | 5 | 22.7 | 10.1 to 43.4 | 17 | 77.3 | 56.6 to 89.9 | 22 | 0.479 |
| 25–34 | 4 | 14.8 | 5.9 to 32.5 | 23 | 85.2 | 67.5 to 94.1 | 27 | |
| 35–44 | 0 | 0 | – | 7 | 100.0 | 64.6 to 100 | 7 | |
| Ethnic group* | ||||||||
| White | 7 | 15.6 | 7.8 to 28.8 | 38 | 84.4 | 71.2 to 92.3 | 45 | 0.611 |
| Black/Black British | 2 | 25.0 | 7.2 to 59.1 | 6 | 75.0 | 40.9 to 92.9 | 8 | |
| No. sexual partners, past year† | ||||||||
| 2+ | 8 | 25.0 | 13.3 to 42.1 | 24 | 75.0 | 57.9 to 86.8 | 32 | 0.063 |
| 0–1 | 1 | 4.2 | 0.7 to 20.3 | 23 | 95.8 | 79.8 to 99.3 | 24 | |
| No. new sexual partners, past year † | ||||||||
| 1+ | 8 | 24.2 | 12.8 to 41.0 | 25 | 75.7 | 59.0 to 87.2 | 33 | 0.067 |
| 0 | 1 | 4.4 | 0.8 to 21.0 | 22 | 95.7 | 79.0 to 99.2 | 23 | |
| Unsafe sex, past year ‡ | ||||||||
| Yes | 3 | 21.4 | 7.6 to 47.6 | 11 | 78.6 | 52.4 to 92.4 | 14 | 0.678 |
| No | 6 | 14.6 | 6.9 to 28.4 | 35 | 85.4 | 72.6 to 93.1 | 41 | |
| STI symptoms, past month§ | ||||||||
| Yes | 0 | 0 | – | 12 | 100.0 | 75.8 to 100 | 12 | 0.180 |
| No/not mentioned | 9 | 20.5 | 11.2 to 34.5 | 35 | 79.5 | 65.5 to 88.9 | 44 | |
| Diagnosed with any STI, past 5 years | ||||||||
| Yes | 4 | 44.4 | 18.9 to 73.3 | 5 | 55.6 | 26.7 to 81.1 | 9 | 0.029 |
| No | 5 | 10.6 | 4.6 to 22.6 | 42 | 89.4 | 77.4 to 95.4 | 47 | |
| Sexual health clinic attendance | ||||||||
| Yes | 9 | 24.3 | 13.4 to 40.1 | 28 | 75.7 | 59.9 to 86.6 | 37 | 0.021 |
| In the last year | 7 | 43.8 | 23.1 to 66.8 | 9 | 56.3 | 33.2 to 76.9 | 16 | 0.001 |
| 1+years ago | 2 | 12.5 | 3.5 to 36.0 | 19 | 90.5 | 71.1 to 97.4 | 21 | |
| No | 0 | 0 | – | 19 | 100.0 | 83.2 to 100 | 19 | |
*Small numbers of participants in other ethnic groups prevented analysis.
†Includes both opposite-sex and same-sex partners.
‡Had sex with at least two partners in the past year and did not use a condom during this timeframe; one participant did not respond to this question.
§STI symptoms included: pain or increased frequency of urination, presence of genital warts or ulcers, penile discharge or abnormal/odorous vaginal discharge, painful testicles, vaginal pain during sex, bleeding between periods or after sex and lower abdominal/pelvic pain.