Socio-demographic, obstetric and behaviouralfactors associated with abnormal vaginal discharge among married women in aligarh- a cross-sectional study

Background: Vulvovaginal symptoms are one of the commonest reasons for women attending a health facility. The symptoms include a vaginal discharge perceived by the woman to be abnormal, vulval irritation or itching. Objectives: To study the factors associated with abnormal vaginal discharge among married women of Aligarh. Methods: The data were collected by using a pretested, semi-structured with both open and closed-ended questionnaire from 500 married women of reproductive age group. The collected data were analysed using IBM SPSS 26.0 Proportion, frequencies, and logistic regression were used to interpret the data. Results: Based on the symptoms mentioned in the syndromic approach, the prevalence of symptoms of vaginal discharge was found to be 37%. There was a strong association between lower educational status, not using any contraceptive method, not practising good menstrual hygiene, having a history of abortion, having a history of violence, and increased parity. Conclusions: The prevalence of symptoms was discovered to be associated with these females' low educational status, high parity, partner history of reproductive tract infections, history of violence, and so on. As a result, there should be a greater emphasis on improving these factors in order to reduce the prevalence.