Socioeconomic variation in admission for diseases of female genital system and breast in a national cohort aged 15-43.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate socioeconomic variation among young women in the risk of hospital admission for diseases (including neoplasms) of the female genital system and breast and for the common surgical procedures of dilatation and curettage and hysterectomy.

DESIGN

Large nationally representative cohort study with individual records of confirmed admissions to NHS and private hospitals since birth and data on occupational and educational experience.

SETTING

England, Scotland, and Wales.

PATIENTS

General population sample of 1628 women, 1549 of whom had a complete admissions record for the ages of 15-43 years.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

The percentage of women admitted for neoplasms or other diseases of the female genital system and breast or who had dilatation and curettage or hysterectomy between the ages of 15 and 43 years.

RESULTS

By the age of 43, 35% of women had been admitted, 17% had undergone dilatation and curettage at least once, and 10% had had a hysterectomy. There were significant inverse educational gradients, the risk of admission increasing more than twofold between the most and least educated women. The differential risk was most striking for disorders of menstruation, in which only 1% of those with the highest educational qualifications and 19% of those with minimal qualifications had been admitted to hospital. There was a significant educational gradient in the hysterectomy rate (from 1% to 15%) and a twofold difference in the risk of dilatation and curettage. There were also significant gradients in risk of admission and of hysterectomy according to partner's social class.

CONCLUSIONS

Socioeconomic variations in the risk of dilatation and curettage and of hysterectomy were large. Lessening the socioeconomic gradient in risks of admissions and surgery for diseases of the female genital system and breast, particularly for menstrual disorders, could have important resource implications.