| This study explored the impact of sociodemographic patterns of sexually active young women with recurrent chlamydia infections in rural and urban environments in 8 southeast states. The study analyzed data that had been collected on 60,000 women between the ages of 10 and 24 years who had attended public health clinics, family planning clinics, sexually transmitted infections clinics and prenatal clinics between January 1999 and December 2000. The independent variables were age, race/ethnicity, mean residential distance to the clinic providing services, pregnancy, and gonococcal infections. The results of the study showed that women in the 16-to-19-year-old age group were significantly more likely to have recurrent chlamydia infections (OR = 1.317, p = .0009). White non-Hispanic women were less likely to be reinfected (OR = .566, p < .0001). Clients who lived in rural areas were more likely to be reinfected (OR = 1.777, p = .036). When the mean residential distance from the clinic was compared in rural and urban areas, rural clients were more likely to have recurrent chlamydia infections (OR = 1.242, p = .006). In areas where with relatively more public transportation options, women were significantly more likely to have recurrent chlamydia infections (OR = 1.035, p < .001). Pregnant women were significantly less likely to have recurrent infections (OR = .947, p = .001); women who were coinfected with gonorrhea and chlamydia infections were significantly more likely to have recurrent chlamydia infections (OR = 1.448, p < .0076). Particularly in light of the surgeon general's call for the elimination of sexual health disparities in all forms brought about by poor socioeconomic conditions, lack of access to care, and poor quality of care, the results of this study further reveal a need for reducing sexual health disparities in rural areas. |
