Abstract: Objective: To discover the characteristics of genital tract infection in those late-puberty women aged 14 to 18 years, by analyzing retrospectively the genital tract infection condition and the differences in infection rates of different age groups. Methods：The genital tract infection conditions of 487 female patients of 14 to 18 years from July 2016 to June 2019 were analyzed retrospectively. The patients were divided into 5 age groups, including the groups of 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18 years old. The bacterial vaginosis (BV) infection rate, BV intermediate type detection rate, vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) total infection rate, trichomonas vaginalis (TV) infection rate, inflammatory response rate were analyzed. The differences in above rates were analyzed in the different age groups. Results：The BV infection rate, BV intermediate type detection rate, VVC total infection rate, TV infection rate, and inflammatory response rate were 25.67%, 19.30%, 29.36%, 2.46%, and 25.05%, respectively. For VVC infection, the infection rates of candida albicans and non-albicans candida were 16.84% and 12.53%, respectively. The VVC total infection rate and BV infection rate were roughly same, and both of them were significantly higher than the TV infection rate. There were no significant differences in the BV intermediate type detection rate, TV infection rate and inflammatory response rate in the five age groups(P＞0.05). The BV infection rate of the age group of 17 years was significantly higher than that of other groups(P＜0.05). The VVC total infection rate and non-albicans candida positive rate of the two groups of 17 and 18 years were significantly higher than those of the age group of 14 years(P＜0.05). Conclusions：BV and VVC were more susceptible than TV for female in late puberty. Although the BV detection rate, TV infection rate and inflammatory response rate did not significantly change with the increase of age, the BV infection rate of the group of 17 years was significantly higher than that of other groups while the VVC total infection rate and non-albicans candida positive rate of the two groups of 17 and 18 years were significantly higher than those of the age group of 14 years. Therefore, attentions should be paid to the effects of menstrual hygiene, vaginal internal environment and hygiene manner on genital tract infection at this stage. It is recommended to strengthen the education of reproductive health in adolescent women.

Key words: Late puberty；, Adolescent development；, Femininity；, Reproductive tract infections