Age-specific Risks of Syphilis, Gonorrhea, and Hospitalized Pelvic Inflammatory Disease in Sexually Experienced U. S. Women

Rates of infectious syphilis, gonorrhea, and pelvic inflammatory disease requiring hospitalization among sexually experienced adolescent and young adult women in 1971 and 1976 were highest in adolescents and declined exponentially with increasing age.

Abstract

The authors used data from the Centers for Disease Control (Atlanta, GA), National Hospital Discharge Survey, U.S. Census, and surveys of sexual activity in adolescent women to estimate age-specific rates of infectious syphilis, gonorrhea, and pelvic inflammatory disease requiring hospitalization among sexually experienced adolescent and young adult women in 1971 and 1976. Rates of all three diseases were highest in adolescents and declined exponentially with increasing age. Age-related reporting biases are unlikely to account for these findings. Aspects of adolescent sexual behavior and reproductive physiology are among plausible explanations. With the decline in age at first coitus in recent years, sexually transmitted diseases have become increasingly important factors in the health care of adolescents.