Pelvic inflammatory disease in the United States. Incidence and trends in private practice.

The National Ambulatory Care Survey, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (Rockville, Md.), provides national estimates for conditions diagnosed by office-based private practitioners in the United States. The Venereal Disease Control Division of the Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, Ga.) obtained data from the National Ambulatory Care Survey for the years 1973-1976 and analyzed the epidemiology of pelvic inflammatory disease in women who sought care from private physicians. More that 7.5 million office visits for pelvic inflammatory disease were made over the four-year period (average, 1.89 million visits pe year). All races other than white bear a disproportionate burden of pelvic inflammatory disease. Since the advent of the National Gonorrhea Screening Program in 1972, the number of visits to private physicians for pelvic inflammatory disease has apparently declined.