Screening for HIV and Syphilis in Teens Diagnosed with Pelvic Inflammatory Disease :

Women diagnosed with pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) are at increased risk of having HIV or syphilis, prompting the need to screen for these sexually transmitted diseases. Yet how often are women with PID tested for these infections?  Jichlinski et al. (10.1542/peds.2017-4061) evaluated this by reviewing data from 48 children’s hospitals that are part of the Pediatric Health Information System database.  The authors explored how often teen women diagnosed with PID in the emergency department received HIV or syphilis screening from 2010-2015.  Sadly, of the 10,698 cases of PID identified, only 22% had HIV screening and 27.7% syphilis screening.  The study showed variation in screening rates by hospital, age of patient, type of insurance, race and ethnicity, and whether or not the patient was admitted.  This article is a wake-up call to remind us to screen for these important co-morbidities at the time of diagnosis of PID.  Perhaps a reminder in the electronic health record will trigger better screening than what was found during the study period that ended in 2015. Does your electronic health record have a prompt to screen for sexually transmitted infections in patients with PID?  We’d be interested in learning what systems you have in place to improve the screening outcomes shared in this study.  We welcome your comments via this blog, our website, or our Facebook or Twitter pages.