Hospital-diagnosed late sequelae after female Chlamydia trachomatis infections in 1990-2006 in Turku, Finland.

BACKGROUND

Rather little is known about the late sequelae of previously detected female Chlamydia infections.

METHODS

The late sequelae of previous female Chlamydia infections detected during a 15-year period in a south-western Finnish university hospital were surveyed. Hospital records of women with positive laboratory diagnoses of Chlamydia trachomatis as a sign of genital infection were collected from the years 1990-2006 and subsequently linked to known or suspected in-hospital-treated late Chlamydia complications.

RESULTS

The annual number of late complications has increased in proportion to the increasing trend of detected Chlamydia cases. 239 late complications of the total of 4,920 previously detected Chlamydia-positive infections were observed. The most frequent in-hospital-treated complications were disturbances in early pregnancy (n = 72) and low abdominal pain (n = 67). The others were 45 genital tract or pelvic infections, 34 cases of tubal or unknown infertility and 21 complications of late pregnancy and delivery.

CONCLUSION

The late sequelae of Chlamydia infections need increasing attention in hospitals.