Risk of myocardial infarction in women with pelvic inflammatory disease.

BACKGROUND

There is evidence that chronic inflammation may promote atherosclerotic disease. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is a risk marker for myocardial infarction (MI).

METHOD: Using the Taiwan Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005), this cohort study comprised patients with a recorded diagnosis of PID (N=68,668) between January 1, 2004 and December 31, 2005, with age-matched controls (1:2) (N=136,906). Each patient was followed-up using entry data until the end of 2006. Cox proportional hazard regressions were used to evaluate the up to 3-year MI-free survival rates, after adjusting for known confounding factors.

RESULTS

We found that patients with PID were more likely to have MI than the control population after adjusting for potential confounders [adjusted hazard ratio (HR), 1.86, 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.23-2.81]. When stratified by patient's age, the adjusted HR for MI was 2.09 (95% CI, 1.24-3.52) for patients with PID aged over 55 years. However, the adjusted HR for MI occurring was not significant for patients with PID aged ≤ 55 years.

CONCLUSIONS

PID is a risk marker for MI that is independent of traditional MI risk factors. Further research in this important area of public health is warranted.