A comparative study on the effects of various factors to the prevalence of pelvic inflammatory disease in North central Nigeria

Abstract

Pelvic inflammatory disease is a gynaecological disease that affects the upper genital organs of reproductive age females. It is a disease associated with clinical sequalae such as tubal blockage, oophoritis and cervicitis which are said to result to high rate of disease (such as female infertility) and deaths among the females. This study therefore attempts to evaluate the association of various factors to high prevalence of pelvic inflammatory disease among women residing in developing countries such as Nigeria. Questionnaires were administered to all women enrolled for this study too obtain their data. Seven hundred and twenty (720) patients out of 1170 patients enrolled for this study were recorded to be pelvic inflammatory disease patients, of which 380(85%) were rural dwellers; 452(87.6%) were ignorant of pelvic inflammatory disease and were thus easily prone to the disease; 285(86.4%) were within the reproductive ages of 25-29 years; 350(85.2%) previously had urinary tract infection a year ago; 496(85.8%) and 343(83.5%) were both married and uneducated females. The high prevalence of pelvic inflammatory disease recorded in this study is due to certain predisposing factors practiced among females in their reproductive ages, hence it is necessary for government to enforce certain measures such as establishment of free education, continuous awareness of pelvic inflammatory disease and establishment of free medical check up to help prevent and control the spread of pelvic inflammatory disease.