Genitourinary infection prevalence among women who used an intrauterine device or oral contraceptives.

PURPOSE: The study aimed at investigating genitourinary infection prevalence among women who used an intrauterine device (IUD) and oral contraceptives (OC) in relation with their socio-demographic characteristics.

METHODS: The study was conducted at the Mother and Child Health and Family Planning center between October 2011 and February 2012 and included 81 women who used IUD, 84 who used OC, and 84 who did not use artificial contraceptive methods (coitus interruptus).

RESULTS: It was found that there was a difference between the three groups in terms of urinary system infection (X (2) = 9.85, p = 0.000) and genital infection (X (2) = 8.29, p = 0.001). It was also observed that urinary infection was more common in the OC group, whereas genital infection was more common in the IUD group. In urinary culture, it was seen that Enterobacter species was the most common microorganism among the group who used an IUD, while Escherichia coli was the most common microorganism in the group who used OC and the control. In vaginal cultures, Candida albicans was determined to be the first isolated microorganism among the group who used OC, IUD, and the control.

CONCLUSION: It is believed that the most significant reason for genitourinary infections among women was inadequate hygiene practices rather than use of different contraception methods.