Hospitalizations for pelvic inflammatory disease. Epidemiology and trends in the United States, 1975 to 1981
A. E. Washington, W. Cates Jr and A. A. Zaidi
To assess trends in hospitalizations for pelvic inflammatory disease (PID)
in the United States for 1975 through 1981, we analyzed data from the
Hospital Discharge Survey conducted by the National Center for Health
Statistics. Overall, both the estimated number and rate of hospitalizations
for PID among women aged 15 to 44 years rose slightly. For the seven-year
period, an estimated average of 267,200 women were hospitalized annually
for PID, with hospitalization rates averaging 5.3 per 1,000 women. Risk of
hospitalization for PID was greatest among women in their 20s. Divorced or
separated women were considerably more likely to have been hospitalized
than single or married women. Although nonwhite women had estimated average
rate 2.5 times higher than for white women, the trend of hospitalizations
for PID among nonwhite women appeared relatively stable while the trend
among young white women showed measurable increases.
