Screening for Chlamydia to Prevent Pelvic Inflammatory Disease

To the Editor: In the study by Scholes et al. (May 23 issue), 1 which examined whether screening for and treatment of chlamydia prevented pelvic inflammatory disease, 1009 women were randomly assigned to screening and treatment, but only 645 were actually screened. Of these 645 women, 44 had positive tests and received treatment, with 7 cases of pelvic inflammatory disease subsequently identified. However, the authors did not state whether any of the cases occurred in the 44 women who tested positive for cervical chlamydial infection. The remaining 364 women were not screened, received no intervention at all, and hence do not . . .