title: Vaginal douching practice in Turkish women: who is douching, and why?
abstract: The aim of this study was to describe vaginal douching practices among women of reproductive age in Turkey, and to examine the association between this practice and adverse reproductive health consequences. Of the 524 participants, 58% reported vaginal douching at some time in their lives. The practice is primarily used for hygienic reasons and a majority used water alone and homemade solution. Using a multivariate model, only age (P = 0.05) and intrauterine device usage (P = 0.02) were associated with vaginal douching.
authors.affiliation: Zekai Tahir Burak Woman Health Education and Research Hospital Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ankara, Turkey. drkaraer@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Abdullah
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karaer
authors.forename: Ayşe Filiz
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Avsar
authors.forename: Ovgü
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ozkan
authors.forename: Betül
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bayir
authors.forename: Kürşat
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sayan
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D015331:Cohort Studies; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D015438:Health Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011336:Probability; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014421:Turkey; D044364:Vaginal Douching / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends