Objectives: The goal of this study is to identify factors that contribute to reproductive tract infections (RTIs) among women in rural China, including prevalence, influence of sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge, hygienic behaviors and the history of childbearing, menstruation and abortion.
Study design: A stratified cluster sample of 53,652 married women in rural Anhui Province of China completed an interviewer-administered standardized questionnaire, and underwent gynecological examination and laboratory investigation.
Results: RTIs were relatively common (30,939/58.1%) among our sample of 53,652 married women. The three most frequent RTIs in our samples were endocervicitis, bacterial vaginosis (BV) and trichomoniasis, with prevalences of 41.7%, 12.0% and 4.5%, respectively. Multiple infections were prevalent among our sample. 20.4% (10,854) of our sample had two RTIs and 8.8% (4713) had at least three RTIs. Multivariate analysis showed that women's age, education, occupation, dysmenorrhea, number of deliveries, personal hygiene habit, menstrual cycle, menstruation, abortion, the interval between abortion and sexual intercourse afterwards, RTI knowledge and the frequency of sexual intercourse per month were all related to RTIs in our sample.
Conclusions: Among married women in rural China, the prevalence of RTIs was high, indicating the need for health education.