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Vaginal douching practice and related symptoms in a rural area of Turkey

Archives of Gynecology and Obstetrics volume 284, pages 1153–1156 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Purpose

To investigate vaginal douching habits and associated factors among women living in rural Turkey.

Methods

This study was performed in the gynecology department of a government hospital in a rural area of Turkey, from February to March 2010. The study included 393 women admitted to the gynecology clinic. The age, marital status, education, socioeconomic status, reason for vaginal douching, douching frequency, symptoms, and previous treatments were investigated. All of the subjects were asked about the use of, frequency, and reason for vaginal douching. Significant risk factors in the vaginal douching group and odds coefficients were found using binary logistic regression.

Results

The major symptoms of the subjects were itching and vaginal discharge. Of the 393 women, 317 (80.66%) performed vaginal douching and all of them had recurrent or treatment-resistant mixed agent vulvovaginitis. The majority of the women douched for ritual cleansing or washing before prayer (n = 278; 91.6%). The majority of the cases (n = 354; 90.1%) were of lower socioeconomic and educational status. The odds ratios and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the risk variables vaginal douching frequency, cervical motion tenderness, dyspareunia, and vaginal itching were 9.39 (2.07–42.48), 7.31 (2.08–25.64), 6.52 (2.26–18.78), and 1.46 (1.22–1.74), respectively.

Conclusions

In our region, vaginal douching is a common practice among women, especially those of lower socioeconomic and educational status. Clinicians should inform patients about the risks of vaginal douching to minimize the risks associated with this behavior.

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Acknowledgments

We thank www.textcheck.com for English revision.

Conflict of interest

We declare we have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ergani State Hospital, Diyarbakir, Turkey

    Ali Irfan Güzel

  2. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Dicle University, Diyarbakir, Turkey

    Umur Kuyumcuoğlu

  3. Department of Biostatistics and Medical Informatics, School of Medicine, Dicle University, Diyarbakir, Turkey

    Yusuf Celik

  4. Mega Center Karşısı, Polis Loj. Sok., Murat 6 Apt., No: 25, 21280, Diyarbakir, Turkey

    Ali Irfan Güzel

Authors
  1. Ali Irfan Güzel
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  2. Umur Kuyumcuoğlu
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  3. Yusuf Celik
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Correspondence to Ali Irfan Güzel.

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Güzel, A.I., Kuyumcuoğlu, U. & Celik, Y. Vaginal douching practice and related symptoms in a rural area of Turkey. Arch Gynecol Obstet 284, 1153–1156 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-010-1805-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00404-010-1805-6

Keywords

  • Vaginal douching
  • Religious causes
  • Risk factors
  • Symptoms