Reproductive health of female law enforcement officers: the relevance of the issue

Currently, the demographic situation in Russia can be characterized by a decrease in the birth rate, an increase in mortality, and an increase in the proportion of elderly and senile people. One of the factors influencing the birth rate in the Russian Federation, in addition to socio-economic reasons, is the level of medical care provided to the population, the state of public health, including the level of reproductive health. The main indicators characterizing the state of reproductive health are the fertility rate, the mortality rate, the natural population growth rate, perinatal, infant and maternal mortality, the spread of sexually transmitted infections, the prevalence of genital and extragenital pathology, the frequency of infertility in marriage. In addition, experts estimate the frequency of induced abortions and the prevalence of certain methods of contraception. In Russia, as in the rest of the world, researchers have observed a significant increase in the number of women serving in the armed forces and law enforcement agencies. Performing official duties in law enforcement agencies involves a number of occupational risks that affect the health of employees, including the reproductive function of women. Among the professional factors accompanying official activity in law enforcement agencies, one can single out: irregular working hours, eating disorders, stressful situations, meteorological and environmental factors, work in an unfavorable epidemiological situation, etc. Considering that the organs of the reproductive system are particularly sensitive to adverse environmental factors, factors of the industrial environment, directly or indirectly, through somatic morbidity, can act as pathogenetic causes of disorders in the reproductive sphere. The state of reproductive health of female law enforcement officers is fragmentally sanctified in the Russian and world scientific literature. In the specialized literature, we can find that menstrual disorders, inflammatory diseases of the female genital organs and hyperplastic changes in the endometrium occupy a leading place in the structure of reproductive diseases in female law enforcement officers. Foreign studies have noted a high incidence of cervical cancer, miscarriages and premature birth. The study of the reproductive health of female employees of the internal affairs bodies, the assessment of the contribution and capabilities of departmental healthcare in the prevention of morbidity in this area seem relevant, including from the perspective of improving the demographic situation in the country.

Ethics. The study was conducted in compliance with medical confidentiality.

Contributions:
Shostak D.P. — research concept and design, data collection and processing, text writing;
Fesenko M.A. — research concept and design;
Goncharov A.G. — research concept and design, text writing, editing;
Burmistr A.V. — editing.

Acknowledgement. The authors would like to thank Peter Grigorievich Shostak, the head of the Federal Medical Institution "Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation for the Kaliningrad Region", and Liana Dzhambolovna Plieva, an obstetrician-gynecologist for their help in conducting the study.

Funding. The study had no funding.

Conflict of interest. The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Received: 21.02.2025 / Accepted: 14.03.2025 / Published: 07.04.202

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