{"id":10337,"date":"2025-06-02T10:17:08","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T02:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/?p=10337"},"modified":"2025-06-02T10:17:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T02:17:09","slug":"more-than-70-of-young-women-suffer-from-itching-irritation-pain-other-symptoms-in-genital-area","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/more-than-70-of-young-women-suffer-from-itching-irritation-pain-other-symptoms-in-genital-area\/","title":{"rendered":"More than 70% of young women suffer from itching, irritation, pain, other symptoms in genital area"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A study conducted by researchers from the Federal University of S\u00e3o Carlos (UFSCar) found that 72.5% of young Brazilian women suffer from symptoms such as itching, discharge, and pain during intercourse. The study, which included 313 volunteers in their 30s, showed that, although these symptoms negatively affect quality of life and sexual health, they have largely been normalized. The data were\u00a0published<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to\u00a0Ana Carolina Beleza, one of the authors of the article, there is still a strong taboo surrounding the subject. This leads many women to underestimate the impact of these symptoms on their health, daily life, and sex life. The research noted the contradiction between the prevalence and consequences of vulvovaginal problems. This is because, in addition to asking the participants if they had the symptoms, the questionnaire included scores on how they impacted different aspects of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEven women who reported pain during sex rated the problem as having a low impact on their lives. The scores used to measure the impact of this and other symptoms were much lower than expected, revealing a worrying normalization. It\u2019s important to note that experiencing pain during sex isn\u2019t normal and should be investigated through clinical approaches. The tendency to normalize vulvovaginal symptoms underscores the need for more intimate health education, whether in schools or in healthcare,\u201d argues Beleza, who coordinates the Center for Studies in Physiotherapy in Women\u2019s Health (NEFISM) at UFSCar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This study,\u00a0supported by FAPESP, is the first to demonstrate the prevalence of vulvovaginal symptoms in young Brazilian women. According to the results, the most commonly reported symptoms were vaginal discharge (63%), itching (54%), burning (31%), vaginal dryness (30%), vaginal odor (28%), irritation (27%), and pain during intercourse (20%). Fewer than 30% of the participants reported having none of these problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reported issues can have various causes, such as infections, as well as hormonal, dermatological, or muscular changes. While treatable, they can negatively affect emotional well-being, sexual function, self-confidence, and social life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is an issue that requires a more global view, as it involves other aspects that go beyond health, such as cultural and emotional questions and a lack of knowledge about one\u2019s own health,\u201d says\u00a0Clara Maria de Araujo Silva, the first author of the article and a researcher at NEFISM-UFSCar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The taboo surrounding vulvovaginal symptoms is reflected in the limited number of studies on the subject. \u201cThis is the first one carried out in Brazil and for this age group. Even so, it was a surprise to see the high prevalence of vulvovaginal symptoms among young women. In this age group, symptoms such as pain and burning aren\u2019t expected, since there are no hormonal changes associated with menopause, for example,\u201d says Beleza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Social determinants of health<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The study suggests that, although symptoms are prevalent across all social and educational strata, they may be even more prevalent among women with lower incomes and education levels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis opens up a series of questions that we can investigate in future studies. We want to identify other factors, such as income, education, employment, housing conditions, and access to health services, that could influence the occurrence of symptoms. Based on this understanding, it\u2019ll be possible to devise measures to reduce this prevalence and strategies so that these symptoms are no longer normalized,\u201d predicts Beleza.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although these symptoms negatively affect quality of life and sexual health, they have largely been normalized. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":10338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[19,20,2155,247,2039,2061],"class_list":["post-10337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsmakers","tag-health","tag-wellness","tag-women-empowerment","tag-womens-health","tag-womens-rights","tag-young-women"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10337"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10339,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10337\/revisions\/10339"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zestmag.com\/online\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}