Grooming pubic hair linked to increased STI risk

Conclusion This US questionnaire-based study aimed to assess the link between the grooming of pubic hair and lifetime history of STIs. The findings showed that grooming was associated with a higher rate of STIs. The study has strengths in that it included a large number of both men and women with a very small number excluded from the analysis. The team made attempts to make the survey as fair as possible and provided a laptop computer and free internet service to those without access to the internet. They also carried out a pilot survey to make sure it was valid and easy to understand. However there are some important limitations to this research that overall mean that it can't prove conclusively that grooming pubic hair directly increases your risk of STIs. By design this cross-sectional study is not able to prove cause and effect. It can't determine the timing of grooming compared to when STIs were acquired. The study can't rule out the possibility that the link between grooming practices and STIs is being mediated by sexual activity (that is people who groom might be more sexually active and /or adventurous). The researchers failed to assess the safe sex practices of participants, they only used the number of lifetime sexual partners as a surrogate for risky sexual behaviour. There is high risk of responder bias in a survey questioning such a sensitive topic – participants agreeing to take part in this survey may not be fully representative of the general publi...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news