Factors associated with TORCH infections among reproductive Tibetan women in Qinghai province: a multivariate analysis

Objective To examine prevalence and influencing factors of TORCH (abbreviation for Toxoplasma gondiiToxo,rubella virus,cytomegalovirus,and herpes simplex virusHSV) infections among reproductive Tibetan women in Qinghai province.Methods Totally 700 Tibetan women aged 15-55 years were randomly selected from two rural towns in Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Qinghai province and surveyed with a questionnaire,and 550 blood samples were collected from some of the women for the detection of specific serum TORCH immunoglobulin M (IgM) antibody with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) between May and August 2013.T-test,chi-square test,and logistic regression analysis were used to explore factors associated with TORCH infections among the women.Results The positive rate of serum HSVⅡ-IgM and Toxo-IgM were 15.82% (87/550) and 0.91% (5/550) among the women.Univariate analysis showed that education,income,marital status,the age of having first sex,whether having sexual partners,history of abnormal pregnancy,behaviors during pre-pregnancy period,and exposure to pet or livestock during pregnancy were significant influencing factors of TORCH infections (P<0.05 for all).The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that education(junior high school or below vs.senior high school or above:odds ratioOR=11.24,95% confidence interval95%CI=5.81-21.74),the age of having first sex (<16 vs.≥16 years:OR=3.54,95%CI=1.323-9.448),monthly income (<2 000 vs.≥2 000 RMB yuan:OR=0.517,95%CI=0.301-0.886),without sexual partner (OR=0.051,95%CI=0.028-0.091),without the history of abnormal pregnancy(OR=0.173,95%CI=0.065-0.464)were significant impact factors of TORCH infection.Conclusion Education,income,age of having first sex,and experience of abnormal pregnancy are important factors for TORCH infections among the Tibetan childbearing women in Qinghai province.