Chlamydial infection and unplanned pregnancy in women with ready access to health care1 ☆,
Section snippets
Materials and methods
Of 600 eligible Navy-enlisted women, 314 (52.3%) were voluntarily enrolled in October 1995 from a shore-based command (131 of 150; 87%) and a ship-based submarine tender (183 of 450; 41%). Nonavailability, because of work assignments or leave during briefing and enrollment periods, was the primary reason for nonparticipation. There were no significant differences between the demographic characteristics and work site assignments of participants and nonparticipants.
All participants signed a
Results
The demographics, risk characteristics, and risk exposures of the 299 participants included in the data analysis are summarized in Table 1. The women were generally young, and the majority were white. Approximately half of the population was single and all had completed high school, with 42.3% having at least some post-high school vocational or college education. Two of the women reported they had not “ever had sex” and were thus excluded from analysis of current sexual behavior. Of the
Discussion
In this cross-sectional study of healthy young women in the Navy, we report prevalent adverse reproductive outcomes of asymptomatic chlamydial infection and unplanned pregnancy in 8.7% of the population. Chlamydia trachomatis infection, detected in 4.7% of the participants, was multivariably associated with current pregnancy and misuse of alcohol. Unplanned pregnancy, found in nearly half of the pregnancies, was univariably associated with single marital status, younger age, having new partners
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This work was supported by the United States Army Medical Research and Material Command, MIRR No. 95MM5525 and Naval Health Research Center Work Unit No. 6434.
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Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not reflect the official policy or position of the Department of the Navy, Department of Defense, or the United States Government.