Socio-Demographic, Clinical, and Hygiene Profile of Syndromically Managed Sexually Transmitted Diseases: A Cross Sectional Study in a Tertiary Care Center in India

Abstract

Background: Sexually transmitted diseases are one of the several major public health concerns, the burden of which is borne by low- and middle-income countries like India. Purpose: The purpose is to evaluate the relationship between menstrual and sanitary hygiene and sexually transmitted diseases (STD) based on syndromic diagnosis Methods: An out-patient department (OPD) based cross sectional survey to determine these associations, if any exist, which would help critically analyze syndromic management. STD was reported by the presence of vaginal/cervical/urethral discharge with or without irritation and itching, lower abdominal pain and ulcer. Results: The prevalence of STD was 66.84% with the most commonly reported symptoms being discharged (31.18%), followed by abdominal pain (17.92%) and itch-ing/irritation (12.90%), with ulcer (4.83%) being the least reported symptom. Perimenopausal age ((AOR: 0.420 [CI: 0.189 - 0.915]; p = 0.030), higher grades of education ((AOR: 0.228 [CI: 0.119 - 0.424]; p < 0.001) for second-ary), urban residency (AOR: 0.435 [CI: 0.686 - 2.733]; p < 0.001), and contraception use (AOR: 0.531 [CI: 0.308 - 0.887]; p = - 3.146] for vaginal and cervical; AOR: 1.426 [CI: 0.826 - 2.482] for urethral) were more likely to not have a toilet facility in an accessible condition. Women with sanitary napkin use had lesser odds (AOR: 0.780 [CI: 0.516 -1.180]; p = 0.293) of presentation for STD in OPD than women who used other material. Conclusion: To better manage the group of diseases that may present with symptoms of STD under syndromic approach, we propose in-terventions such as menstrual hygiene education and promotion of the use of sanitary napkins among women especially those belonging to lower so-cio-economic sections of the society.