The frequency of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women with intraepithelial neoplasia of the uterine cervix.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the frequency of Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) infection in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) referred for conisation.

METHODS

423 patients with histologically proven CIN were included in this study. Before conisation, cytological material for direct immunofluorescence analysis was obtained. The incidence of CT in cytologic smears of all three CIN groups was calculated.

RESULTS

Among all patients with CIN, 27 (6.4%) were CT positive and 396 (93.6%) CT negative. There were 2 (8.3%) CT positive patients with CIN 1, 10 (9.3%) with CIN 2 and 15 (5.2%) with CIN 3. The difference between CT infection incidence in patients with CIN 1 and CIN 2 was not significant; neither was it significant between patients with CIN 1 and CIN 3 nor between those with CIN 2 and CIN 3.

CONCLUSIONS

Chlamydia trachomatis infection in patients with CIN is not very common. The impact of CT infection does not seem to interfere with development or even promotion of CIN.