OBJECTIVE To study genital symptoms and signs in women with vulvar pain, and the association with potential risk factors such as microbiological agents, sexual behaviour and genital hygiene. METHODS Prospective cohort study of apparently healthy women attending for contraceptive advice. METHODS Two family planning clinics and one youth clinic in Sweden. METHODS Out of 996 women recruited, 79 women (7.9%) had, on request, complaints of current burning and smarting vulvar pain and/or superficial dyspareunia (our definition of vulvar pain) while 917 women without such symptoms served as controls. RESULTS Complaints of dysmenorrhoea, vaginal discharge, genito-anal pruritus, dysuria, and abdominal pain were more frequent in the study group, than in the control group. In the women with vulvar pain, erythemas, superficial ulcerations, and fissures were found significantly more frequently. Vaginal candidosis was the only current genital infection that occurred more often in the study group, than among the controls. There were no differences in the history of gonorrhoea, genital chlamydial infection, genital herpes, genital warts, and candidosis between the two groups. The sexual debut of the women with vulvar pain occurred later in life, compared with the control group. Control subjects were more likely to use tampons for menstrual sanitation, than the women with vulvar pain. CONCLUSIONS Neither infectious conditions caused by current known agents, with the exception of candidosis in some cases, nor behavioural factors, such as sexual behaviour and genital hygiene habits could in this study explain vulvar pain.