Influence of material deprivation on hospital admissions for gynaecologic infections

This study was conducted to examine the relationship between age, material deprivation, and hospital admissions for selected gynaecologic infections in an English health region. Data from hospital episode statistics relating to hospital admissions for pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), infections of the uterus, and infections of the cervix, vagina, and vulva were obtained. Townsend deprivation scores (based on 1991 census data) were allocated by linking postcodes of cases to enumeration districts (EDs) and then assigning the EDs to appropriate quintiles of material deprivation. Both single variable and multivariable (Poisson regression) analyses were performed. For women with PID, the risk of hospitalisation increased with increasing deprivation (P