Effect of contraception on vaginal acidity among Indonesian women

Objective: There were only few studies about the characteristicof vaginal pH among contraception user in Indonesia. This studyaimed to determine the effect of contraception on vaginal pH amongIndonesian women.Method: This study is a cross-sectional study. The target popu-lation was Indonesian women aged 15 - 50 years. The samples con-sisted of 492 people. Based on the method of contraception, subjectswere grouped into 4 groups, subjects with combination hormonalcontraceptives, progestin only, condoms/IUDs, and subjects with nocontraception or sterile. Vaginal acidity (pH) was examined by Dip-Stick (Merck®).Result: The average age was 30.9 ± 8.27. The methods of con-traception the subjects used were combination hormonal contracep-tion (18.0%), progestin-only (29.5%), condom/IUDs (5.1%) and nocontraception/sterile (47.4%). Most subjects had vaginal pH <5(65.45%) with an average of 5.0 (3.0 - 10.0). Contraception usershad lower vaginal acidity level than those without contraception(combination hormonal 65.2%, progestin-only 72.4%, IUD/condom76.0%, no contraception/sterile 60.1%). In multivariate analysis, af-ter controlling age and marital status, all types of contraception didnot show significant association to vaginal pH.Conclusion: The average pH of the vagina in this study was 5.0(3.0 to 10.0). There was no significant association between anymethods of contraception and vaginal pH