Comparing Women's Reports with Medical Diagnoses of Reproductive Morbidity Conditions in Rural Egypt

Abstract

This article is based on a survey of a random sample of 509 ever-married nonpregnant women residing in two villages in the Giza Governorate of Egypt, each of whom responded to a questionnaire on symptoms of gynecological conditions and then was accompanied to the village health center for a gynecological exam. A response rate of 91 percent was achieved. The article focuses on reproductive tract infections and genital prolapse, highly prevalent conditions in the community. The women's reports of symptoms are compared with the medical diagnoses, using indicators of sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values, and percentage of agreement. The findings show that women's reports of vaginal discharge agree moderately well with the physicians' observations but are not good predictors of the occurrence of reproductive tract infections. Women's reports of the symptoms of prolapse do not agree well with medical diagnoses of the condition. The findings are analyzed, taking into account the social context of the lives of the women surveyed to arrive at conclusions as to how to improve ways of learning from women themselves about gynecological problems in the community.