Association of Neighborhood Economic Status and Race With Developing Pelvic Inflammatory Disease After Sexually Transmitted Infections

OBJECTIVE: To explore the association of neighborhood-level socioeconomic status (SES) and race with developing pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) after sexually transmitted infection (STI) among female adolescents and young adults in Maryland. METHODS: We used Maryland statewide hospital claims data (outpatient and inpatient visits) for this retrospective cohort study. Female adolescents and young adults aged 15–24 years who had at least one STI from July 1, 2013, to March 31, 2015, were included. A participant entered the cohort on the date of the first STI diagnosis and was followed up until PID occurrence or 3 years after the first STI. Median household income of the participant’s residential ZIP code tabulation area was used as the neighborhood-level SES. Discrete-time hazard models were used to estimate the hazard of PID. RESULTS: Of the 2,873 participants, 88.5% were of Black race, and 67.2% were aged 20–24 years. The hazard of PID after an STI among Black women was 1.40 times that of White women (95% CI 1.06–1.85). After adjustment for age, insurance type, and number of STI events, the hazard ratio (HR) did not change. However, adding neighborhood-level SES to the model attenuated the disparity in PID after STI between Black and White women (HR 1.25, 95% CI 0.94–1.67). CONCLUSION: Racial disparities in PID diagnosis are mitigated by neighborhood-level SES.