A cross sectional study on the prevalence of reproductive tract infections amongst married women in the rural area of Surendranagar district

Abstract

pregnancy, abortion, child bearing and contraception. High levels of gynaecological morbidity, especially reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections may turn out to be fatal if not treated properly. 3 Aims and objectivesTo find out the prevalence of reproductive tract infections amongst married women in the rural areas of Surendranagar district and to co-relate the disease with certain socio demographic variables, to find out the basic ABSTRACT Background: In the recent years, the issue of gynaecological problems of poor women in the developing countries has been receiving increasing attention. High levels of gynaecological morbidity, especially reproductive tract infections and sexually transmitted infections may turn out to be fatal if not treated properly. Objectives of current study were to find out the prevalence of reproductive tract infections amongst married women, to co-relate the disease with certain socio demographic variables and to assess the awareness about reproductive tract infections in the study population. Methods: Sample size -Various community based studies carried out in the different regions world showed the prevalence of reproductive tract infections 36-84%. The sample size of study as per statistical calculation (4pq/l 2 , where p =50, q=100-p and l= 10% of p) came out to be 400. Method of Sampling -Prior enlisting all villages of Surendranagar district, one village was selected randomly. After random selection the village found was Khodu. Results: 56.5% of women reported either one or more symptoms of reproductive tract infections; vaginal discharge (29.7%) was the commonest symptom. Basic awareness about disease was 64.0%; Maximum prevalence of reproductive tract infections (62.90%) was found in the age group of 25-34 years. Conclusions: There is a significant association between socio-economic class, educational status and women having symptoms of reproductive tract infections.

Reproductive Tract Infections Among Married Women in Rural Area of Haryana

“…Prevalence reported in our study is lower than that reported by Thekdi KP, et al 11 (56.5%), but much higher than that reported in other studies. 12,13,14 The prevalence of RTI was significantly associated with age, being maximum in 25-29 years (63.7%) followed by 36.5% in 15-19 years.…”

Community based study of reproductive tract infections among women of the reproductive age group in a rural community of Eastern India

“…10 Another study showing the prevalence of reproductive tract infections among recently married women in Veerapandi Panchayat Union of Salem District, Tamil Nadu done by Kannan et al, showed the prevalence of RTIs to be 44.6%. 8 A study done among rural women in Meerut by Jain et al, found the prevalence of RTIs to be 44.8%. 12 All these studies were almost in accordance with the present study.…”

“…The second most common symptom was lower abdominal pain, 63.9% suffered from it whereas the least reported symptom was burning pain during micturition (1.4%) vaginal discharge was also the commonest symptom reported in other studies in rural areas of India. [7][8][9][13][14][15][16]22 Among the other symptoms low back pain was the commonest symptom in a study conducted in Goa and dysuria was reported to be commonest in a study conducted in Ludhiana. 11,19 In the present study, none of them complained of genital ulcers and genital warts.…”

Reproductive tract infection and health seeking behaviour: a cross sectional community based study

“…3 The study carried out by Thekdi et al, 56.5% of women reported either one or more symptoms of reproductive tract infections. 4 A study conducted in rural Haryana in which prevalence of reproductive tract infection was 61%. 5 A study conducted in highlands and coastal region of Peru where 77% of women reported symptoms of reproductive tract infections.…”

“…A study carried out by Thekdi vaginal discharge was the most common symptom reported by (26.3%) followed by vulval itching (8.8%), low backache (7.0%), burning micturition (3.3%). 4 A study conducted in West Bengal in which 21.8% of women reported vaginal discharge as the commonest symptom followed by vulval itching (17.7%). 8 A study conducted by Chellan et al, in South India in which the vaginal discharge was the commonest symptom (32.2% Regarding prevalence of reproductive tract infections and literacy, maximum prevalence was found among women with education up to primary class (71.01%) who gradually decreased as the education of women increased.…”