Study of urethritis among subjects regardless to religious rites

Objectives: Sexually transmitted diseases (STD) in young population of Iran and the frequency of sexual behaviors is a major public health problem in the country. The aim of this study was to study urethritis (the most common STD in Khuzestan) among subjects regardless of religious (Islamic) rites. Methodology: In this prospective study conducted from 2005 to 2007 in Amirkabir Hospital in Ahvaz, 1199 adult men with symptomatic urethritis were studied. One thousand and forty six subjects declared that they respect religious rites (Group-I) and 153 subjects declared that they were not much concerned about religious rites and they were included in Group-II. Urethritis was diagnosed based on clinical and laboratory examinations. Subjects were placed in two groups and compared. Extracted data from questionnaires were analyzed in SPSS 13 software using chi-square and exact Fisher tests. Results: Of total 1199 subjects, 44 patients were diagnosed having urethritis, among them gonococcal urethritis was detected in 16(36.5%) and Chlamydia in 28(63.7%). Mean age of the patients was 28.2±9.4 years with the range of 18-47 years. Incidence of urethritis in Group-I was 2% (21/1046) and in Group-II 15.03% (23/153). Frequency of Men having sex with men (MSM), extramarital contact, HIV seropositivity, Injecting drug use (IDU), and imprisonment among Group-I and Group-II was [1.2%, 1.4%, 0.8%, 0.6%, 0.8%] and [8.2%, 8.2%, 4.6%, 3.6%, 12.4%] respectively. Conclusion: Subjects who are not concerned about religious rites have high frequency of unsafe sexual contact like homosexuality, extramarital contact. HIV infection and IDU as compared to those who respects religious rites