Epidemiological Study of Reproductive Tract Infections in Rural Area of Indore District

Research Question: What is the burden of Reproductive Tract Infections in Women of reproductive age group in rural Indore? Objective: 1) To find out the magnitude of problem of RTIs in women aged 15-44 years in villages of Double Chowki PHC of Indore District, Madhya Pradesh. 2) To study the epidemiological determinants of RTIs. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: 7-subcentre villages comming under Double Chowki PHC of Indore district. Material and Methods: The study was conducted in 7 subcentre villages. The study included all women in the age group of 15-44 years. The sample size was calculated as 421 women taking 5% allowable error. The number of women studied in each village was selected by probability proportional to size (PPS) sampling technique. In the second stage the primary unit of survey was selected using systematic random sampling at each village level. The cases were identified using Syndromic approach and were referred to the subcentre for further clinical examination and treatment. Results: The proportion of RTIs symptomatics was found to be 18.7%. Among 79 RTIs symptomatic women, majority (49.3%) of women had only vaginal discharge followed by 37.9% women had vaginal discharge with lower abdominal pain. 1.3% of them had only other symptoms of RTIs which includes genital ulcer, mucopus from cervix and inguinal lymphadenopathy, 5.1% were having vaginal discharge with other symptoms of RTIs and 6.4% had pain in lower abdomen with other symptoms of RTIs. Conclusion: There was significant association between RTIs symptomatics and age, age at menarche, age at marriage, age at first conception. The proportion of RTIs symptomatics did not differ significantly with education, occupation, socioeconomic status, religion, parity, history of abortion, use of IUCD, and hygienic practices during menstrual period. Introduction Reproductive tract infection covers three types of infections: 1. Sexually transmitted infections. 2. Endogenous infections, that result from overgrowth of organisms normally present in the reproductive tract. 3. Iatrogenic infections associated with medical procedures including abortions and insertion of intra uterine devices.[1] According to World Health Organisation, the global burden of sexually transmitted infections is estimated to be 333 million cases annually. Based on a number of prevalence surveys and a review of available literature the annual incidence of RTIs/ STDs in Indiais estimated at 5%, or approximately 40 million new infections every year.[2] This study was carried out with the following objectives: 1) To find out the magnitude of problem of RTIs in women aged 15-44 years in villages of Double Chowki PHC. 2) To study the epidemiological determinants of RTIs.