RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: To identify the value that women with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) assign to the health impact of future infertility. DESIGN: Cross-sectional observations on patient preferences. SETTING: Participants in an existing multicenter clinical trial of PID treatment options. PATIENT(S): Five hundred thirty-two women with signs and symptoms of PID who were identified from emergency departments and sexually transmitted disease clinics. INTERVENTION(S): Women were asked to rate whether life with future infertility was more or less meaningful than life with each of seven chronic health conditions: sinus congestion, insomnia, chronic headache, asthma, incontinence, dialysis, and paralysis. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Preferences regarding future infertility. RESULT(S): Most respondents rated future infertility as being worse than sinus congestion and asthma but better than the health impact of incontinence, dialysis, and paralysis. There was a wide range of opinion, with 18% viewing future infertility as minor (better than all conditions) and 5% viewing it as extremely important (worse than all conditions). Future infertility ratings were influenced by race, parity, difficulty in conceiving, and views on the importance of future pregnancy. CONCLUSION(S): The majority of women with PID rate future infertility as a significant issue. Optimizing access to infertility treatment may affect the quality of life for such women.
