The reproductive and somatic health of servicewomen and those who are in the military area in armed conflict

• Main Authors: І. А. Лурін, І. П. Хоменко, О. Я. Назаренко, К. Д. Дейнюк
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Publishing House TRILIST 2019-12-01
• Series: Репродуктивная эндокринология
• Subjects: war zone; female military personnel; stress-induced diseases; sexually transmitted infections
• Online Access: http://reproduct-endo.com/article/view/186196

The number of women choosing a military career given the current state of Ukraine experiencing military aggression by Russia and the positive changes in society and legislation that allow women to choose any profession, is increasing every year. Purpose of the study. To study the structure of somatic and gynecological pathology in female military personnel worldwide and to compare it with our own experience. Materials and methods. 316 medical histories of female military personnel who received in-patient treatment from 2014 to 2018 in military hospitals in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Vinnitsa and Odessa were analyzed. Results and discussion. Authors’ findings indicate that in the morbidity structure of women in military service predominate benign diseases of the pelvic organs, such as uterine fibroids and pelvic inflammatory diseases. This is matches to the literature data, and is a direct result of two military-related issues of being in a war zone is chronic stress and sexually transmitted infections. Conclusions. Although the health status of women military has not been sufficiently studied, both in the world and in the Ukrainian scientific literature, study authors identified that gynecological pathology is expected to be dominated by stress-induced diseases such as uterine fibroids and pelvic inflammatory diseases due to lack of awareness of sexually transmitted infections prevention methods. Ukrainian specialists must be prepared for the long-term effects of military stress and living conditions in the war zone, anticipate the spectrum of morbidity and be able to provide comprehensive assistance to the fullest extent. Today the only way to prevent these diseases is through screening before joining the army and in the service, as well as training military doctors on specific aspects of women's health, and women-military self-examination and basic self-diagnosis