title: Vaginal douching practices of women in eight Florida panhandle counties.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To document knowledge, beliefs, douching practices, prevalence of bacterial vaginosis, and preterm births in women who douche.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive, cross-sectional nonexperimental design.
  
  
  METHODS
  Six private midwifery/nurse practitioner offices and eight county health departments in the Florida panhandle.
  
  
  METHODS
  Four hundred eighty-three English- or Spanish-speaking women aged 14 to 45 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Self-administered questionnaire about douching; medical record review.
  
  
  METHODS
  Prevalence of douching, history of preterm labor, preterm births, and prevalence of bacterial vaginosis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 483 women, 76% had douched, 43% douched at least once per month, and 36% were unaware they should not douche. As determined by odds ratio, women who douched monthly were 2.5 times more likely to have a history of bacterial vaginosis than women who did not douche (p < .001), and women who douched weekly were 2.75 times more likely to have bacterial vaginosis (p = .004). Of 409 clients with medical records available, 32 had preterm births of which 69% had a history of bacterial vaginosis (x2 = 4.5, df = 1, p = .034). Among women with preterm births who douched regularly prior to pregnancy (n = 14), 87% had a history of bacterial vaginosis (x2 = 7.14, df = 1, p = .008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Associations of douching with bacterial vaginosis and bacterial vaginosis with preterm labor were significant. Health care professionals should initiate discussions to discourage douching.
authors.affiliation: Florida State University School of Nursing, Tallahassee 32306, USA. bcottrell@nursing.fsu.edu
authors.forename: Barbara Hansen
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Cottrell
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D005431:Florida / Q000453:epidemiology; D015438:Health Behavior; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009042:Motivation; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D007752:Obstetric Labor, Premature / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D011247:Pregnancy; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012648:Self Care / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D044364:Vaginal Douching / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016585:Vaginosis, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology; D014930:Women / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology