Potterat, J. J.,
Brewer, D. D., Muth, S. Q., Rothenberg, R. B., Woodhouse, D. E., Muth,
J. B., Stites, H. K., & Brody, S. (2004). Mortality
in an open cohort of prostitute women. American Journal of Epidemiology,
159, 778-785.
In this study, the authors estimated
overall and cause-specific
mortality among prostitute women. They recorded information on
prostitute women identified by police and health department
surveillance in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from 1967 to 1999. The
authors assessed cause-specific mortality in this open cohort of 1,969
women using the Social Security Death Index and the National Death
Index, augmented by individual investigations. They identified 117
definite or probable deaths and had sufficient information on 100 to
calculate a crude mortality rate (CMR) of 391 per 100,000 (95%
confidence interval (CI): 314, 471). In comparison with the general
population, the standardized mortality ratio (SMR), adjusted for age
and race, was 1.9 (95% CI: 1.5, 2.3). For the period of presumed active
prostitution only, the CMR was 459 per 100,000 (95% CI: 246, 695) and
the SMR was 5.9 (95% CI: 3.2, 9.0). Violence and drug use were the
predominant causes of death, both during periods of prostitution and
during the whole observation period. The CMR for death by homicide
among active prostitutes was 229 per 100,000 (95% CI: 79, 378), and the
SMR was 17.7 (95% CI: 6.2, 29.3). Deaths from acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome occurred exclusively among prostitutes who admitted to
injecting drug use or were inferred to have a history of it.
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