Vaginal douching practices of women in eight Florida panhandle counties

To document knowledge, beliefs, douching practices, prevalence of bacterial vaginosis, and preterm births in women who douche.

Descriptive, cross-sectional nonexperimental design.

Six private midwifery/nurse practitioner offices and eight county health departments in the Florida panhandle.

Four hundred eighty-three English- or Spanish-speaking women aged 14 to 45 years.

Self-administered questionnaire about douching; medical record review.

Prevalence of douching, history of preterm labor, preterm births, and prevalence of bacterial vaginosis.

Of 483 women, 76% had douched, 43% douched at least once per month, and 36% were unaware they should not douche. As determined by odds ratio, women who douched monthly were 2.5 times more likely to have a history of bacterial vaginosis than women who did not douche (p < .001), and women who douched weekly were 2.75 times more likely to have bacterial vaginosis (p = .004). Of 409 clients with medical records available, 32 had preterm births of which 69% had a history of bacterial vaginosis (x2 = 4.5, df = 1, p = .034). Among women with preterm births who douched regularly prior to pregnancy (n = 14), 87% had a history of bacterial vaginosis (x2 = 7.14, df = 1, p = .008).

Associations of douching with bacterial vaginosis and bacterial vaginosis with preterm labor were significant. Health care professionals should initiate discussions to discourage douching.