Association Between Sexual Autonomy and Reproductive Tract Infections Among Married Women in India: A Cross-Sectional Study of a Nationally Representative Sample

Abstract

This study explores the links between sexual autonomy and selfreported reproductive tract infections (RTIs) among married Indian women using data from the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019–2021). It also investigates heterogeneous associations of sexual autonomy, intimate partner violence, husband's controlling attitudes, women's participation in decision-making, and physical mobility with RTI. Binary logistic regression models were employed to unravel the association and interaction terms introduced in the model to assess heterogeneous associations. Results suggest that sexual autonomy was significantly associated with a lower likelihood of RTIs. Women's sexual autonomy may enable their agency to practice safer marital sexual relations, which may further translate into reducing the risk of RTIs.

Keywords:

• Sexual autonomy
• intimate partner violence (IPV)
• controlling attitudes
• household decision-making
• physical mobility
• reproductive tract infections (RTIs)
• India

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Availability of Data and Materials

All the data sets processed and analyzed for the current study are publicly available on the DHS webpage and can be accessed from https://dhsprogram.com/data/available-datasets.cfm.