HISTORY, CLINICAL FINDINGS, SEXUAL-BEHAVIOR AND HYGIENE HABITS IN WOMEN WITH AND WITHOUT RECURRENT EPISODES OF URINARY SYMPTOMS

Background To compare women with and without a history of recurrent sy mptoms suggestive of a urinary tract infection but a current negative urine culture regarding symptoms and signs of a genital infection, car riership of sexually transmitted agents and vaginal flora changes, sex ual behavior and genital hygiene practice. Settings. Contraceptive att endees at family planning and youth clinics. Material and methods. Two hundred and seventeen women who reported recurrent symptoms of dysuri a, frequent micturition, and urgency and had a negative bacterial urin e culture were recruited as cases. Seven hundred and ten culture-negat ive women lacking such symptoms served as controls. A careful record w as made including details about gynecological symptoms? sexual behavio r and genital hygiene practice. Gynecological signs were noted at gyne cological examination. Genital infections, including sexually transmit ted diseases, were diagnosed. Results. The mean age of the two groups studied was 26.2 and 25.8 years, respectively. Symptoms, such as dysme norrhea, vaginal discharge, genital pruritus, abdominal pain and super ficial dyspareunia were more frequent in the study group than among th e controls. On examination, only erythema was observed more often. How ever, the cases more often had a history of genital herpes and vulvova ginal candidosis. They used tampons only for menstrual purposes, and s oap for genital hygiene, but more often used low-pH solutions and took hot baths less frequently. The women with recurrent urinary symptoms more often masturbated and more often had experience of anal sex and s ex during menstruation than the control group. Conclusions. Sexual beh avior and genital hygiene habits may play an etiological role in the l ives of women with recurrent episodes of urinary symptoms with a negat ive bacterial urine culture.