Cervicitis classification

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Prince Tano Djan, BSc, MBChB [2]

Cervicitis may be classified according to the etiology, anatomical location and disease duration, such as infectious, non-infectious, acute, subacute and chronic cervicitis. The infectious causes are gonococcal, C. trachomatis and herpes. Examples of the non-infectious causes are traumatic injury to the cervix, chemical exposure, douching, latex, contraceptive creams, systemic inflammation (e.g. Behcet syndrome), as well as radiation exposure.

Cervicitis may be classified according to the etiology, anatomical location and disease duration as follows:

Some of the infectious causes are gonorrhea, C. trachomatis and herpes. Examples of the non-infectious causes are traumatic injury to the cervix, chemical exposure, douching, latex, contraceptive creams, systemic inflammatione(e.g. Behcet syndrome), as well as radiation exposure.

There is not an established timeline to define these classes, however, chronic cervicitis usually leads to complications. Chronic cervicitis is mostly a result of non-infectious causes.

Endocervical cervicitis is more common than ectocervical cervicitis. The ectocervix is made of squamous epithelium and is relatively resistant to infectious agents compared to the endocervix, which is composed of columnar epithelium.