Reproductive Tract Infections Among Married Women And Its Association With Obstetric Factors

Background Reproductive tract infection (RTI) is a broad term that encompasses STIs (sexually transmitted infections) as well as other infections of the reproductive tract that are not transmitted through sexual intercourse. Women remain at a high risk for various reproductive health problems especially RTIs. The study was conducted to estimate the proportion of RTI among women of Aligarh and its association with obstetric history of the women. Materials and Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among 330 married women of the study area of a tertiary hospital of North India, selected by simple random sampling. A predesigned, semi-structured and pre-tested questionnaire was utilized to take the interview of eligible women. Results More symptomatic women were those who got married at 18 years or less than those of more than 18 years, 26.7% and 14.1% respectively. Majority of the symptomatic women (31.9%) were lying in the group where they had been married for 5-10 years as compared to other group. The proportion of RTIs was significantly higher in grand multi para (26.3%). The proportion of RTI was higher in women who had the history of abortion (20.8%) as compared to those who had no history of abortion (17.7%). Age at the time of marriage, duration of marriage, parity were found to be significant determinants of reproductive tract infections. Conclusions From the study, it was concluded that proportion of women having Reproductive Tract Infection was 19.1% and it was also influenced by obstetric history of the women.