Analysis of Vaginal Candidiasis Prevalence Among Bangladeshi Women in Relation to Menstrual Hygiene and Other Risk Factors: A Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

Vaginal candidiasis, which is an infection of the female reproductive system, continues to be a leading risk factor of morbidity, which negatively impact the physical and mental health of women worldwide. Despite widespread awareness, vaginal candidiasis is still seen as a minor health issue in many impoverished nations like Bangladesh. This study aimed to examine and evaluate the prevalence of vaginal candidiasis and its association with menstrual hygiene and other risk factors among reproductive-aged women by cross-sectional study. In this research study 37.30% of women (91 out of 244 patients) tested positive with vaginal candidiasis. From this study is was found that patients in their early and peak reproductive years are more susceptible to illness. The highest prevalence was seen among the participants who aged between 15-34 years (33%), which followed by 20.9% patients are between 35-44 years age group and 70.3% of patients were married. The most common symptoms patients faced in this study are irritation and swelling near genital area (24.8%), unusual vaginal discharge (22.6%), itching near genital area (20.4%), pain or burning sensation during urination (16.8%) and painful intercourse (11.7%). Besides, risk factors that caused the disease in patients to be found are, poor menstrual hygiene (35%), unsafe intercourse (38%), non-cotton and unclean undergarment (18.6%), use of over the counter antibiotic (14.2%), diabetes (8%), infected sexual partner (3.4%), STD (3%) and menopause (0.8%). Another major part of the study is to know about the relation between menstrual hygiene and vaginal candidiasis. About 33% of the women use cloth and another 33% use both sanitary napkin and cloth as an absorbent. It is also observed that 74.7% women change the absorbent only about 1-2 times per day. Though, Vaginal Candidiasis is a type of mild infection for most the cases still it needs to be given importance as it can cause troublesome and serious complications such as recurrent infection, candidemia etc.