Panel Advocates Routine Chlamydia Screening.

Sexually active women under 25 targeted.

A federally appointed expert panel has issued a strong endorsement of targeted screening of women for chlamydia infection.

All sexually active women aged 25 and younger--and those over 25 with new or multiple sexual partners--should be routinely screened for chlamydia, the third U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) concluded in the first of a new series of evidence-based recommendations.

The task force, which also issued an expanded recommendation on lipid screening, reviewed two other preventive measures--bacterial vaginosis screening in pregnancy and total-body skin cancer screening--and found insufficient evidence to support them.

In developing its third set of recommendations since 1989, the 13-member panel has conducted a rigorous evaluation of available data, with input from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American College of Physicians--American Society of Internal Medicine, and other organizations.

For the first time, the USPSTF also has taken into consideration the magnitude of the health benefit that can be attained, explained Dr. Alfred O. Berg, chair of the task force, which is sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

The chlamydia screening recommendation has more teeth than a 1996 recommendation by the second USPSTF and has been upgraded from a "B" rating to an "A" rating, connoting a stronger endorsement, said Dr. Carolyn Westhoff, a task force member and professor of obstetrics, gynecology, and public health at Columbia University, New York.