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Contraceptives Association with Vaginal Microbiome and RTI: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Females of Jammu and Kashmir, India

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Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the impacts of use of various contraceptive methods on vaginal microbiome and reproductive tract infections (RTI) in females. A cross-sectional study in Jammu Province of Jammu and Kashmir was conducted in which 796 sexually active married women of reproductive age were recruited as participants. A well-structured questionnaire was used to collect the data and the analysis was performed using linear and binary logistic regression with 95% confidence interval (CI). The p value of < 0.05 was considered as significant. Previous studies have consistently shown that disturbances in the vaginal microbiome can lead to reproductive tract infections in women. The prevalence of contraceptive use and RTI in the studied population was 53.1% (CI 49.6–56.7%) and 44.7% (CI 41.2–48.3%) respectively. Several sociodemographic factors like age, place of residence, educational qualification, religion, and caste of the participant significantly governed the method of contraception used by the females. It was observed from the data obtained that the use of condoms and hormonal oral contraceptives reduced the risk of RTI as they maintain vaginal eubiosis in the females by 1.97-folds (AOR:1.97; CI 1.02–2.86) and 1.68 folds (AOR:1.68; CI 0.78–2.50) respectively. The likelihood of developing RTI increased by 2.31 (AOR:2.31; CI 1.05–3.57), 3.62 (AOR:1.97; CI 1.02–2.86), and 4.97 (AOR:4.97; CI 3.50–6.00) folds in females who opted for IUDs, tubal ligation, and unprotected sex respectively, these methods may interfere with the host vaginal microbiome, alter it and making the female more susceptible to the microbial infections and pathogenic attack. The research proposes that the use of hormonal oral contraceptives and condoms as the means of contraception is a safe method and the females opting for them are less prone to RTI.

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Abbreviations

IUD:

Intrauterine device

AOR:

Adjusted odds ratio

CI:

Confidence interval

COR:

Crude odds ratio

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to the School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University and also our colleagues and students who were involved in this work for their unremitting efforts.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, 182320, India

    Chitrakshi Chopra & Indu Bhushan

  2. School of Business, Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University, Katra, Jammu and Kashmir, 182320, India

    Divya Sharma

  3. Department of Gynecology, Government Medical College, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir, 180001, India

    Vinay Kumar

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  1. Chitrakshi Chopra
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  2. Divya Sharma
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Chitrakshi Chopra: Project development, Data collection, Data management, Data analysis, Manuscript writing; Divya Sharma: Data analysis; Vinay Kumar: Data collection; Indu Bhushan: Manuscript editing.

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Correspondence to Indu Bhushan.

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Chopra, C., Sharma, D., Kumar, V. et al. Contraceptives Association with Vaginal Microbiome and RTI: A Cross-Sectional Survey in Females of Jammu and Kashmir, India. Indian J Microbiol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12088-024-01226-5

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