Journal article

Prevalent and Incident Bacterial Vaginosis Are Associated with Sexual and Contraceptive Behaviours in Young Australian Women

Catriona S Bradshaw, Jennifer Walker, Christopher K Fairley, Marcus Y Chen, Sepehr N Tabrizi, Basil Donovan, John M Kaldor, Kathryn McNamee, Eve Urban, Sandra Walker, Marian Currie, Hudson Birden, Francis Bowden, Suzanne Garland, Marie Pirotta, Lyle Gurrin, Jane S Hocking

PLOS ONE | PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE | Published : 2013

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To determine prevalence and incidence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) and risk factors in young sexually-active Australian women. METHODS: 1093 women aged 16-25 years were recruited from primary-care clinics. Participants completed 3-monthly questionnaires and self-collected vaginal smears 6-monthly for 12-months. The primary endpoint was a Nugent Score = 7-10 (BV) and the secondary endpoint was a NS = 4-10 (abnormal flora [AF]). BV and AF prevalence estimates and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI) were derived, and adjusted odds ratios (AOR) calculated to explore epidemiological associations with prevalent BV and AF. Proportional-hazards regression models were used to examine factors ..

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Grants

Awarded by Australian National Health and Research Council


Awarded by Australian National Health and Medical Research Council


Funding Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Commonwealth of Australia, as part of a National Chlamydia Pilot Program and the Australian National Health and Research Council (research grant number 509144). CSB, and JSH were supported by research fellowships issued by the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (fellowship numbers 456164 and 566576 respectively). MP was supported by a Primary Health Care Research Evaluation and Development Mid-Career Fellowship, Department of Health and Aging. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.