UNEXPOSED UNDERGARMENTS TO SUN A MAJOR CULPRIT IN VAGINAL INFECTIONS

Dr. Faisal Khan*

ABSTRACT

Objective: To determine the association between vaginal infections & non-exposure of undergarments to sun & unhygienic behaviours. Design: A cross-sectional study. Place and duration of study: Rehman Medical Institute (RMI), Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Pakistan, from March to September, 2017. Methodology: 337 female patients presented in Gynae/Obs Dept. of Rehman Medical Institute (RMI), Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhawa, Pakistan, with clinical symptoms of vaginal infections, confirmed through investigations were sampled. A consecutive sampling technique was used to sample patients. Every woman in the study was vaginally examined to measure the vaginal pH by using pH 7.0 purchased from Shaheen Chemist Peshawar, through rubbing the pH paper along the lateral and posterior walls of the vagina to take some discharge and clarify pH. More over Data was collected from patients on a designed questionnaire. Data was presented by using descriptive statistics in the form of frequencies and percentages for qualitative variables and means and standard deviations for quantitative variables. Qualitative variables were compared using non-parametric chi-square test. Statistical significance was considered at p-value <0.05. Results: This study concluded a significant association between vaginal infections and unexposed undergarments to Sun (89.2% with P<0.05). Conclusion: The most common reasons of vaginal infections are unhygienic practices & unexposed undergarments to air and sunlight. Due to unnecessary hesitation, majority of women never let their undergarments to breath in fresh air and never put them under the sunlight after every wash which leads to high rate of vaginal infections in our population.

Keywords: Vaginal infections, Undergarments, Sun, Sunlight, Fresh Air, Unhygienic Behaviour.