Prevalence and trends of sexually transmitted infections among pregnant women in Mizan Tepi University Teaching Hospital, Southwest Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

INTRODUCTION: sexually transmitted infections are the most common causes of illness in Africa. They are public health important diseases because of their magnitude, potential complications, and interactions with HIV/AIDS during pregnancy. In our country, especially in our study area, limited studies have been conducted to assess the magnitude and trends of sexually transmitted infections among pregnant women. Therefore, this study aimed to assess the prevalence and trends of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among pregnant women. METHODS: an institution-based cross-sectional study design was conducted in Mizan Tepi University Teaching Hospital in Southwest Ethiopia from August 1-30, 2019. Three hundred women were selected using a simple random sampling method from the women's registry book who visited the hospital for antenatal care (ANC) follow-up in the last five years. The data was collected by using checklists. Finally, the data were entered into Epi Info 7 and analyzed with statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS) version 25.0. RESULTS: the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections was 50 (16.7%). HIV infection was 15 (5%), genital candidiasis 11 (3.7%), T. vaginitis 10 (3.3%), Hepatitis B virus 9 (3.0%), Hepatitis C virus 2 (0.7%), and Chlamydia 3 (1.0%). The trend of sexually transmitted infections over the last five consecutive years was increasing, decreasing, and again increasing. CONCLUSION: this study showed that the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections in pregnant women was relatively higher than in other similar studies conducted in different study areas. The trend of sexually transmitted infections in the last five years was not constant.