Official websites use. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. Women are disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections STIs throughout life.
In addition to their high prevalence in women, STIs have debilitating effects on female reproductive health due to female urogenital anatomy, socio-cultural and economic factors. In this Review, we discuss the prevalence and impact of non-HIV bacterial, viral and parasitic STIs on the reproductive and sexual health of cisgender women worldwide. We analyse factors affecting STI prevalence among transgender women and women in low-income settings, and describe the specific challenges and barriers to improved sexual health faced by these population groups.
We also synthesize the latest advances in diagnosis, treatment and prevention of STIs. Women are more affected by sexually transmitted infections than men. Sexually transmitted infections STIs cause reproductive morbidity worldwide. In , the World Health Organization WHO estimated that there were million new episodes of chlamydia, gonorrhoea, syphilis and trichomoniasis Fig. In the United States in , several STIs were estimated to be more prevalent among women than men, including gonorrhoea, chlamydia and trichomoniasis 3.
Women often experience complications from STIs, including infertility and chronic pelvic pain, that can have lifelong impact 4. STIs can increase peripartum morbidity and mortality in both industrialized areas and in rural and underserved areas of developed countries.
WHO global regions and the incident cases of four STIs chlamydia, gonorrhoea, trichomoniasis and syphilis from estimates. The larger impact of STIs in women compared with men is in part due to the female anatomy Fig. The cervix at the distal end of the vagina leads to the upper genital tract including the uterus, endometrium, fallopian tubes and ovaries. STIs can produce a variety of symptoms and effects at different parts of the female reproductive tract, including genital ulcer disease, vaginitis, pelvic inflammatory disease PID and infertility 6.
