Prevalence and determinants of lower reproductive tract infections among women aged 25 - 54 years in Beijing

Abstract

To determine the prevalence and determinants of the most commonly seen lower reproductive tract infections among women aged 25 - 54 years in Beijing. The study population consisted of 6339 women aged 25 - 54 years in 137 communities of Beijing. Focus of this study was to understand the prevalence of the following diseases as:bacterial vaginosis, trichomoniasis and vulvovaginal candidiasis. In addition to their prevalence rates, a generalized equation for estimation was used to analyze those infection-associated factors. The overall infection prevalence in the lower reproductive tract was 11.4%, including bacterial vaginitis as 8.7%, trichomonads as 1.0% and vulvovaginal candidiasis as 1.7%. Factors which were found to be significantly associated with lower reproductive tract infections in women were age, profession, family income, number of sex partners and frequency of condom use during sexual contacts. In patients with bacterial vaginitis, both prevalence rates of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and infection of human papillomavirus were high. The prevalence of the most commonly seen lower reproductive tract infections among women aged 25 - 54 years in Beijing was lower than other areas in China. Lower reproductive tract infections seemed to be related to 30 - 49 years of age, nongovernmental employee, poverty, higher number of sex partners and not using condoms during sexual contacts.