Affiliations: [a] Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| [b] School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA
| [c] Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, El Paso, TX, USA
| [d] Center for the Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed (CRP), Dhaka, Bangladesh
| [e] Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics Program, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, USA | [f] Department of Pharmacy, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Correspondence:
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Address for correspondence: Hasnat Alamgir, PhD, Professor, Department of Pharmacy, East West University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Tel.: +01755 587224; E-mail: alamgir@ewubd.edu.
Abstract: BACKGROUND:The prevalence of urinary symptoms and infections among female garment factory workers in Bangladesh – a large developing country – is largely unknown. Garment sector is this country’s main economic growth engine. OBJECTIVES:This paper focuses on garment industry workers and compares the findings with another group of low socioeconomic status working women. METHODS:Urinary tract symptoms (UTS) were determined by self-reported survey including International Consultation on Incontinence Modular Questionnaire-Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (ICIQ-FLUTS) and urinary tract infection (UTI) was determined among a subset population by urine dipstick tests. RESULTS:Data were collected from 310 garment workers and 297 comparison workers. About one third of garment workers (31.94%) and comparison workers (29.97%) could take up to 3 toilet breaks in a day. Garment workers reported to be more sexually active and menstruation was more common among them compared to comparison workers. They reported a significantly higher prevalence of malodorous urine and vaginal discharge. Garment workers were found to have a significantly higher ICIQ-FLUTS score of voiding than comparison workers (0.44 vs. 0.27; p-value = 0.0167).Among the study respondents, 148 garment workers and 134 other workers provided urine samples and 21 (7.45%) were found to have UTI. After considering all the risk factors in multivariate model, garment work had a significant impact on the probability of having UTI with Odds Ratio of 5.46 (p-value = 0.0374; 95% CI = 1.10, 26.97) compared to other workers. CONCLUSIONS:This study highlights the prevalence and burden of urinary symptoms and infections among female worker populations in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Developing countries, low socioeconomic status, working women, garment workers of Bangladesh
