• Micheline de Lucena Oliveira, Melania Maria Ramos de Amorim, Alex Sandro Rolland de Souza, Lúcia Cristina Bezerra de Albuquerque, and Aurélio Antônio Ribeiro da Costa.
• Instituto Materno-Infantil Prof. Fernando Figueira, Recife, PE
• Rev Assoc Med Bras. 2008 Nov 1; 54 (6): 506512506-12.

ObjectivesTo determine the frequency of Chlamydia trachomatis infection in patients with and without intraepithelial cervical lesions attended at specialized ambulatory in Recife (2007) and its association with biologic and demographic variables, habits, reproductive, clinical and gynecologic characteristics.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted including 70 women (35 with cytological cervical lesions and 35 with normal smears). Colposcopy and biopsy when necessary were performed and Chlamydia infection was determined by direct immunofluorescence. Analysis variables were age, race, precedence, schooling, marital status, menarche, age at first sexual intercourse, parity, number of sexual partners, vaginal discharge, previous Pap smear, STD episodes, cervical cauterization, contraceptive methods, familial antecedents of cervical cancer, alcohol intake, use of illicit and immunosuppressive drugs, Papanicolaou result and cervical Chlamydia l infection. To determine the strength of association prevalence ratio (PR) and its 95% confidence interval were calculated. Multivariate analysis was performed for controlling potentially confounding variables.Resultsthe frequency of Chlamydia l infection was significantly greater in patients with intraepithelial cervical lesions (80.0% vs. 14.3%; PR=5.60; 95% CI=2.44-12.82). When the factors associated with Chlamydia l infection were analyzed, the only variable that remained significantly associated after multivariate analysis was previous episode of STD (OR=63.47; 95% CI=13.93-289.09).ConclusionChlamydia trachomatis infection is associated with intraepithelial cervical lesions and history of STD should be considered for treatment and follow-up of these patients.

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