title: Impact of genital hygiene and sexual activity on urinary tract infection during pregnancy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a bacterial infection commonly occurring during pregnancy. The incidence of UTI in pregnant women depends on parity, race, and socioeconomic status and can be as high as 8%.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to determine the association of UTI with genital hygiene practices and sexual activity in pregnant women.
  
  
  METHODS
  From January 2011 to June 2014, a total of 200 pregnant women attending prenatal clinics in Al-Zahra Hospital and King Khalid Hospital in Saudia Arabia Kingdom were selected. Eighty pregnant women, who had positive urine cultures (cases), were compared with the remaining 120 healthy pregnant women matched for age, social, economic and education status, and parity (controls).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the present work, Escherichia coli were the infecting organism in 83% of cases. Factors associated with UTI included sexual intercourse ≥ 3 times/week (odds ratio [OR] =5.62), recent UTI (OR = 3.27), not washing genitals precoitus (OR = 2.16), not washing genitals postcoitus (OR = 2.89), not voiding urine postcoitus (OR = 8.62) and washing genitals from back to front (OR = 2.96) [OR = odds ratio].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Urinary tract infection in pregnant women was primarily caused by bacteria from the stool (E. coli) and that hygiene habits, and sexual behavior may play a role in UTI in pregnant women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Yaser Ali
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Badran
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Tarek Ahmed
authors.initials: TA
authors.lastname: El-Kashef
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Military Hospitals, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Alsayed Saad
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Abdelaziz
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Azhar University, Cairo, Egypt.
authors.forename: Mahmoud Mohamad
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Ali
keywords: Hygiene; pregnant; sexual intercourse; urinary tract infection