Abstract
Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common genital infection in women and is associated with an increased risk of sexually transmitted infections and HIV. This study uses a syndemic approach to evaluate factors associated with BV. Non-pregnant, HIV-negative, sexually active, cis-gender women aged 18–45 years living in Miami, Florida were recruited from Nov.2018- Jun.2021. Participants completed a sociodemographic and behavioral questionnaire along with gynecological examinations. BV was diagnosed by Amsel criteria and confirmed by a Nugent score ≥ 4. A syndemic score was calculated as the sum of factors associated with BV. The association between syndemic score and BV was assessed using logistic regression. Of 166 women included, 60.2% had BV. Race, ethnicity, education, vaginal sex, recent cannabis use, and reasons for intravaginal practices were included in the syndemic score. Higher odds of BV were found in women with a score of ≥ 3 compared to women with a score of 0/1. A higher syndemic score was associated with increased odds of having BV. Multilevel interventions to decrease BV are needed to decrease women’s risk of acquiring HIV.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 3110-3118 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | AIDS and Behavior |
Volume | 26 |
Issue number | 9 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.
Keywords
- Bacterial vaginosis
- HIV
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Syndemic