Instructing females to wipe their vulva after bowel movements is unnecessary to prevent cystitis: a short research report

In Japan, females are often taught to wipe their vulva from front to back (FTB) after bowel movements in order to prevent cystitis. In this report, we studied whether vulva care after bowel movements in females is a risk factor for simple cystitis. Moreover, we evaluated factors affecting the method of vulva care after bowel movements in females. We recruited 274 females for this study. We analysed the correlations between the style of vulva care, restroom habits and patient characteristics. In addition, we evaluated the correlation between the incidence of cystitis and the style of vulva care after bowel movements. There were no significant differences in the presence of coexisting diseases (P = 0·766), activities of daily living (ADL's) (P = 0·203), body mass index (BMI) (P = 0·174) or restroom style (P = 0·512). However, a significantly greater number of elderly subjects reported wiping from back to front (P = 0·023). In the cystitis group, 48 females (28%) reported wiping the vulva from back to front after bowel movements. In the control group, 29 females (28%) reported wiping the vulva from FTB after bowel movements. There were no significant differences between these two groups (P = 0·988). Our data demonstrated that instructing females to wipe their vulva from FTB after bowel movements is unnecessary for the purpose of preventing cystitis.