A profile of inpatient STD-related pelvic inflammatory disease in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia.

OBJECTIVE

To obtain a profile of inpatient STD-related pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) in the Top End of the Northern Territory.

DESIGN

Review of case records.

SETTING

The Royal Darwin Hospital, the tertiary referral centre for the Top End, during the three years from June 1991 to May 1994.

PATIENTS: All admissions with a diagnosis of STD-related PID.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The presentation and incidence of STD-related PID in Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal women.

RESULTS

PID was the reason for 14% of admissions of Aboriginal women and 2% of non-Aboriginal women. Of 175 episodes of PID in 169 patients admitted over the three years of the study, 41 (23%) had gonorrhoea, 64 (37%) had chlamydia and 7 (4%) had both organisms isolated on genital swab. Aboriginal women were more than twice as likely to have gonorrhoea (38% versus 18%; risk ratio, 2.12; 95% confidence interval, 1.27-3.53) as non-Aboriginal women. Median time from first symptoms to presentation was six days. All gonococcal isolates were penicillin susceptible.

CONCLUSIONS

STD-related pelvic inflammatory disease is an important problem among women in the Top End of the Northern Territory. As PID is a preventable illness, further measures aimed at prevention and earlier, more effective treatment of STDs that cause PID are urgently required.