Public health impact of gonococcia: analysis of hospitalizations in Spain from 2016 to 2022

Introduction and objectives. Gonococcia is a common sexually transmitted infection worldwide. Although its incidence is high, hospitalizations represent a small percentage. The aim of this study is to analyze the hospital burden of gonorrhea in Spain from 2016 to 2022, in order to understand its impact on the healthcare system and thus identify epidemiological trends and factors related to hospitalizations. Material and methods. This is a descriptive epidemiological study. It uses data from the Minimum Basic Data Set (MBDS) of the National Epidemiological Surveillance System. All hospitalizations for gonococcia (ICD-10: A54) or related between 2016 and 2022 were included. The number of hospital admissions and hospitalization rates per 100,000 inhabitants according to year, age, sex and Autonomous Community; mean length of hospital stay and case fatality rate were calculated, considering for all variables a p-value <0.05 as statistically significant. Results. There were 1,915 hospitalizations for gonococcia in Spain, with an increasing trend from 2016 to 2022. Of the hospitalizations, 63.08% were women and 36.91% were men. The mean age was 36.16 years and the mean hospital stay was 7.8 days. The highest hospitalization rate was observed in the 20-24 years age group (1.68 per 100,000 population). There were 22 deaths, with a case-fatality rate of 1.15%, higher in men (1.98%) than in women (0.66%). Conclusions. The annual increase in hospitalizations for gonococcia reflects the health burden of the disease. Despite being a mild disease with good outpatient management, lack of early diagnosis can lead to serious complications that cause hospital admissions, especially in women and young people. It is necessary to strengthen prevention strategies, improve epidemiological surveillance and develop new therapies against antimicrobial resistance of Neisseria Gonorrhoeae.