Urogenital involvements and rheumatic disorders in females. An interview study

To study dependence between urogenital involvements and musculoskeletal complaints in females, 311 randomly selected women aged 15 to 54 were interviewed. In the analysis of these dependences musculoskeletal complaints were considered as a whole per person. A history of salpingitis, gonorrhoea, urinary tract infection (UTI) and Trichomonas vaginalis was revealed as constituting a relative risk factor of 4.4, 3.9, 3.1 and 4.5 respectively in connection with inflammatory rheumatic disease or suspicion of it, with or without dorsal pains of unknown cause. Anamnestic cervicitis was disclosed as constituting a relative risk factor of 1.9 in connection with joint pains in the extremities and 1.8 in connection with dorsalgia of unknown cause, but not a statistically significant relative risk of inflammatory rheumatic diseases or suspicion of them. Salpingitis is proposed as a diagnostic criterion for female Reiter's syndrome. In epidemiologic work the importance of considering the medical history of musculoskeletal complaints as a whole per person is emphasized.