title: Evaluation of hygienic douching on the vaginal microflora of female sex workers.
abstract: To determine the frequency of abnormal vaginal flora and bacterial vaginosis (BV) in female sex workers (FSW) and the association between douching and vaginal microflora imbalance, a cross-sectional study enrolled 94 users and 61 non-users of vaginal douching. The social-demographic and sexual profile of these women was obtained and their abnormal vaginal flora, BV, vaginal candidiasis, trichomoniasis and cytolitic vaginosis on blinded samples were identified by Gram stain. A stepwise multivariate regression determined the risk of development of vaginal microflora imbalance. Prevalence of abnormal flora, BV, candidiasis, trichomoniasis and cytolytic vaginosis in the entire FSW was 75.5%, 51.0%, 5.1%, 0.64% and 1.9%, respectively. There were no significant differences in these findings between users and non-users of vaginal douching. Regression analysis did not identify any increased risk for altered vaginal flora or BV in vaginal douche users. In conclusion, vaginal douching did not increase the rate of these alterations in FSW.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, School of Medicine, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Unicamp), São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Rose
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Amaral
authors.forename: Paulo C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Giraldo
authors.forename: Ana Katherine
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Gonçalves
authors.forename: José-Eleutério
authors.initials: JE
authors.lastname: Junior
authors.forename: Silvio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Santos-Pereira
authors.forename: Iara
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Linhares
authors.forename: Mauro R L
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Passos
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002181:Candidiasis, Vulvovaginal / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D015995:Prevalence; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012307:Risk Factors; D011477:Sex Work; D012725:Sexual Behavior; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014247:Trichomonas Vaginitis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014621:Vagina / Q000382:microbiology*; D044364:Vaginal Douching; D016585:Vaginosis, Bacterial / Q000453:epidemiology*