Abstract:

Objectives: To find out pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) incidence and distribution among different age groups at a tertiary referral hospital.Material and Methods:Subjects were gathered prospectively from the electronic medical files of female patients seen as inpatients over a period of 4 years (between 2008 and 2012). A total of 2,235 patients were included within the study and were reviewed in depth. The main outcome measures were the incidence and distribution among different age groups.Results: Out of 2,235 women included within the study 43.4% were above 35 years of age, 18.2% were between 30-35 years of age, 23% were between 25-30 years of age, 9.3% were between 20-24 years of age and 6% were less than 20 years of age. The percentages of contraceptive methods being used were 18% intrauterine device (IUD), 5.2% combined oral contraceptives (OC), 10% condom, 3.2% surgical sterilization and 26.1% coitus interruptus (CI). Vaginal douching (VD) incidence was 57% with 59% performing this practice after the coitus. The distribution of vaginal douching for age groups were 40.4% for adolescents (<20 y) and 59.6% for those above 20 years of age.Conclusion:We found a lower incidence of PID in adolescents in contrast to the rates reported for Western populations. Older age at first coitus and monogamy in the conservative societies may be responsible for these findings. Practice of VD might also contribute to these rates. More accurate monitoring of incidence in well-defined populations in both urban and rural areas of Turkey should be conducted to find out actual distribution of PID among age groups

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