Genitourinary problems and affecting factors in diabetic women aged 18-45

This descriptive study was conducted to determine genitourinary problems and affecting factors in diabetic women aged 18-45 years. The study was conducted with 104 participants aged 18-45 years with Diabetes Mellitus who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria of the study, after obtaining written permissions from two different hospitals in the Central Black Sea Region. The data were collected by face-to-face interview technique with the Diabetic Women's Diagnostic Information Form with 72 questions and the BRISTOL Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Scale (BFLUTS) prepared by the researcher. In the statistical analysis of the data; frequency, percentage, mean, standard deviation, median, minimum maximum statistical methods, independent t test, Mann Whitney-U, ANOVA, Kruskal Wallis, posthoc, Chi-square and Fisher exact Chi-square test were used. The significance of statistical results was evaluated at the p<0.05 level. The mean age of women is 36.47±7.329 and 80.8% of them are married. The relationship between the variables of age, marital status, alcohol, pregnancy history, comorbidity with diabetes and genitourinary problems was found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). It was determined that the women had the most problems in the storage sub-dimension (4.79 ± 2.82) according to the BFLUTS. Age, marital status, education level, place of residence, working status, income status, social security, alcohol, menstrual cycle pattern, previous pregnancy, curettage, abortion, number of living children, macrosomic birth, type of birth, comorbid diabetes, duration of diabetes, hospitalization due to hyperglycemia, the reason for applying to a health institution and not applying to a health institution, and the BFLUTS total score and sub-dimension scores were found to be statistically significant (p<0.05). In conclusion; diabetes causes genitourinary problems in women aged 18-45 years. It should be ensured that the genitourinary problems of women due to diabetes should be determined by performing a holistic screening and they should be encouraged to seek treatment with guidance on necessary issues.