TY - JOUR
T1 - Chlamydia trachomatis and the Risk of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, Ectopic Pregnancy, and Female Infertility
T2 - A Retrospective Cohort Study Among Primary Care Patients
AU - den Heijer, Casper D J
AU - Hoebe, Christian J P A
AU - Driessen, Johanna H M
AU - Wolffs, Petra
AU - van den Broek, Ingrid V F
AU - Hoenderboom, Bernice M
AU - Williams, Rachael
AU - de Vries, Frank
AU - Dukers-Muijrers, Nicole H T M
N1 - © The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America.
PY - 2019/11/1
Y1 - 2019/11/1
N2 - BACKGROUND: We evaluated the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, and infertility in women with a previous Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) diagnosis compared with women who tested negative for CT and CT untested women, considering both targeted and incidental (ie, prescribed for another indication) use of CT-effective antibiotics.METHODS: This was a retrospective study of women aged 12-25 years at start of follow-up within the Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD database linked to index of multiple deprivation quintiles, 2000-2013. CT test status and antibiotic use were determined in a time-dependent manner. Risk of PID, ectopic pregnancy, or female infertility were evaluated using of Cox proportional hazard models.RESULTS: We studied 857 324 women, contributing 6 457 060 person-years. Compared with women who tested CT-negative, women who tested CT-positive had an increased risk of PID (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.01-2.79), ectopic pregnancy (aHR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.38-2.54), and infertility (aHR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.27-2.68). The PID risk was higher for women with 2 or more positive CT tests than those with 1 positive test. PID risk increased with the number of previous antibiotic prescriptions, regardless of CT test status.CONCLUSIONS: We showed an association between CT-positive tests and 3 adverse reproductive health outcomes. Moreover, this risk increased with repeat CT infections. CT-effective antibiotic use showed no decreased risks of subsequent PID regardless of CT history. Our results confirm the reproductive health burden of CT, which requires adequate public health interventions.
AB - BACKGROUND: We evaluated the risk of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), ectopic pregnancy, and infertility in women with a previous Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) diagnosis compared with women who tested negative for CT and CT untested women, considering both targeted and incidental (ie, prescribed for another indication) use of CT-effective antibiotics.METHODS: This was a retrospective study of women aged 12-25 years at start of follow-up within the Clinical Practice Research Datalink GOLD database linked to index of multiple deprivation quintiles, 2000-2013. CT test status and antibiotic use were determined in a time-dependent manner. Risk of PID, ectopic pregnancy, or female infertility were evaluated using of Cox proportional hazard models.RESULTS: We studied 857 324 women, contributing 6 457 060 person-years. Compared with women who tested CT-negative, women who tested CT-positive had an increased risk of PID (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 2.36; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.01-2.79), ectopic pregnancy (aHR, 1.87; 95% CI, 1.38-2.54), and infertility (aHR, 1.85; 95% CI, 1.27-2.68). The PID risk was higher for women with 2 or more positive CT tests than those with 1 positive test. PID risk increased with the number of previous antibiotic prescriptions, regardless of CT test status.CONCLUSIONS: We showed an association between CT-positive tests and 3 adverse reproductive health outcomes. Moreover, this risk increased with repeat CT infections. CT-effective antibiotic use showed no decreased risks of subsequent PID regardless of CT history. Our results confirm the reproductive health burden of CT, which requires adequate public health interventions.
KW - Chlamydia trachomatis
KW - adverse reproductive health
KW - CPRD
KW - antibiotics
U2 - 10.1093/cid/ciz429
DO - 10.1093/cid/ciz429
M3 - Article
C2 - 31504315
SN - 1058-4838
VL - 69
SP - 1517
EP - 1525
JO - Clinical Infectious Diseases
JF - Clinical Infectious Diseases
IS - 9
ER -