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I have reviewed the relationship between length of wear of tampons and the risk of developing TSS. Several epidemiological studies have collected and analyzed data related to length of wear. The Tri-State Study (of Osterholm, Davis and Gibson 1982), revealed no significant association between length of wear and risk, although there was a trend towards increased risk when tampons were worn for 13 hours or longer. Studies performed by the (US) Centres for Disease Control (CDC) have also failed to show any association between length of wear and risk. (These studies were undertaken by Shands in 1980, Schlech in 1982, and Reingold in 1989). However, the Reingold paper showed that patients with TSS tended to use more tampons per day than their matched controls. This suggests that the average duration of wear of each tampon may have been shorter, rather than longer, among cases than among controls. TSS cases were more likely than controls to have used tampons CONTINUOUSLY on at least one day of their period, and the mean maximum time that a single tampon was left in place was slightly longer among patients than controls. Once absorbency and continuous use were taken into account, however, maximum length of use was NOT an independent risk factor for development of the disease. In summary I believe that there are no epidemiological, clinical or laboratory data to suggest that a recommended length of tampon wear of 6 to 8 hours would increase the risk of a woman developing TSS.

Please not girl, keep your pants on
Just reach inside and hand me your tampon