Differences in notifiable infectious disease morbidity among adult women--United States, 1992-1994

By 1990, all 50 states were using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Electronic Telecommunications System for Surveillance to report individual case data that included demographic information (without personal identifiers) about most notifiable diseases. This analysis of National Notifiable Diseases Surveillance System (NNDSS) data is useful for evaluating the distribution of reported notifiable infectious diseases among adult women by age and race. The number of cases of the 48 nationally notifiable infectious diseases reported among adult women (i.e., women > or = 15 years of age) were compiled for 1992-1994. These data were then analyzed by age and race, and rates per 100,000 adult women were calculated. During 1992-1994, the 10 most commonly reported nationally notifiable diseases among adult women in the United States were, in descending order of frequency, gonorrhea, primary/secondary syphilis, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), salmonellosis, tuberculosis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, shigellosis, Lyme disease, and hepatitis C/non-A non-B. Gonorrhea was the most commonly reported notifiable infectious disease for women of all ages, except those ages > or = 55 years, and for women of all races, except Asian/Pacific Islanders. Tuberculosis was the most commonly reported infectious disease among women of Asian/Pacific Island descent. Analysis of NNDSS data provides information about the relative reported burden of diseases among women of all ages and different races. This information may be used for targeting research, prevention, and control efforts.