Common genital complaints in women: the contribution of psychosocial and infectious factors in a population-based cohort study in Goa, India.
Patel, Vikram;
Weiss, Helen A;
Kirkwood, Betty R;
Pednekar, Sulochana;
Nevrekar, Prasad;
Gupte, Sheela;
Mabey, David;
(2006)
Common genital complaints in women: the contribution of psychosocial and infectious factors in a population-based cohort study in Goa, India.
International journal of epidemiology, 35 (6).
pp. 1478-1485.
ISSN 0300-5771
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyl219
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BACKGROUND: The genital complaint of abnormal vaginal discharge is common in South Asia. We describe the risk factors for the incidence of the complaint in women of reproductive age. Method Population-based cohort study in Goa, India. Out of 3000 randomly selected women, 2494 women participated. The outcome was an incident case of the complaint of abnormal vaginal discharge at 6 months (T1) and 12 months (T2) review. RESULTS: In total 71 (3.6%, 95% CI 2.8-4.5%) of the 2000 eligible women reviewed at T1 reported the complaint; and 80 (4.0%, CI 3.2-5.0%) of the 1999 women who did not complain of abnormal vaginal discharge at T1 reported it at T2. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified the following factors as associated with the complaint: younger age (OR 0.26, CI 0.1-0.5 for women aged 40-49 years compared with women aged 18-24 years); illiteracy (OR 1.48, CI 0.9-2.4); religion (Muslim women OR 3.15, CI 1.7-6.0 compared with Hindu women); women's concerns regarding their spouse's extramarital relationships (OR 3.46, CI 1.2-10.0); current BV infection (OR 1.87, CI 1.2-2.9); somatoform complaints (OR 3.30, CI 1.7-6.5 for the highest somatoform score quartile compared with the lowest); and depression and anxiety (OR 1.55, CI 0.9-2.6 for the highest mental health score quartile compared with the lowest). CONCLUSIONS: Reproductive and sexual health programmes must strengthen the capacity of practitioners to assess and treat bacterial vaginosis and psychosocial problems in women with complaints of abnormal vaginal discharge.