Detail Cantuman

2022ABSTRACTIntroduction: Genital hygiene is an important part of women’s health and is essential for protecting reproductive health. Women adopt many genital hygiene behaviors, which will have direct and indirect effects on genitals and possible sexually transmitted infections. This systematic literature review aimed to know the types of genital hygiene behaviors practiced by women and assess the relationship between genital hygiene behavior and genital infection.Methods:A systematic search of the electronic databases, PubMed, Ovid, Web of Science, Scopus, ScienceDirect, JSTOR, and SAGE, for literature published between January 2001 and 2021. The keywords used were “genital hygiene behavior” AND “genital infections” AND “women OR female.” The inclusion criteria focused on genital hygiene behavior and the incidence of genital infection. Theincluded full papers with observational research methods followed the PRISMA guidelines. After reading the full content of the included studies, key themes and concepts were extracted and synthesized.Results:In total 383 articles were screened. Five articles met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The analysis revealed four categories related to genital hygiene behavior among women: underwear hygiene, bathing habits, menstrual hygiene, and coital hygiene. Genital infections included bacterial vaginosis, trichomoniasis, and vulvovaginal candidiasis. The reviewshowed that incorrect and inadequate genital hygiene behavior increases the risk of vaginal infection.Conclusion:A higher incidence of genital infections occurred in women with improper genital hygiene practices. It is necessary for health professionals to educate women about good genital hygiene practices in order to reduce the rate of genital infections.Keywords: genital hygiene behaviors; genital infection; systematic review; women’s healthIntroductionGenital hygiene plays a key role in preventing genital infections. Early identification of genital infections, appropriate treatment measures, and necessary preventive measures are essential to protect and improve women's health (Hamed, 2015). Genital infection is a serious female health problem, which is related to anegative impact on sexual and family life (Sevil et al., 2013). In this case, genital infection has become a serious public health problem, which is common in both developed and developing countries. About 1 million women around the world suffer from genitourinary system infections, such asurinary tract infections and bacterial vaginosis, and 75% of them have had genital infections. The prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) has been found to be 8%–75%, the prevalence of vulvar vaginal candidiasis (VVC) is 2.2%–30%, and the prevalence of trichomoniasis (VT) is 0%–34% (Karadeniz, 2019). More than one million Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) are spread worldwide every day (World Health Organization, 2021).The factors that causefemale genital infections vary widely. The closeness of the urethra, vagina, and anus to