From an indigent population hospitalized with acute salpingitis, 163 patients were compared with 222 control patients from the minor trauma section of the emergency room. Four factors were significantly different between cases and controls: race, type of contraception, number of sex partners, and previous history of salpingitis. A discriminate analysis based on a linear logistic equation demonstrated that each risk factor was independent rather than a reflection of another risk factor. Thus factors associated with race, IUD use, multiple sexual partners, and previous salpingitis increase the risk of salpingitis in the population studied.
PIP: This study attempted to delineate risk factors which might distinguish a group of hospitalized patients with acute salpingitis from a group of control patients, focusing on contraception method. 163 patients with acute salpingitis were compared with 222 controls from the minor trauma section of the emergency room. 4 factors emerged as significantly different among cases and controls: race, type of contraception, number of sexual partners, and previous history of salpingitis. There were more Blacks in the case group (48.7%) than among controls (18.8%), and more Spanish-Americans among controls (56.8%) than cases (26%) (P .05). 2 times as many salpingitis patients were using IUDs (25.5%) as were controls (13.5%) (P .05). Among salpingitis patients, 63% reported 2 or more sexual partners: 37% claimed none or 1. In the control group, the ratio was reversed, with 76.2% reporting 1 and 23.8% reporting 2 or more (P .05). Previous episodes of salpingitis occurred in 41.7% of cases and 14% of controls (P .05). A discriminate analysis based on a linear logistic equation demonstrated that each risk factor was independent rather than a reflection of another risk factor.