Publication:

Prevalence of vaginitis during pregnancy and its fetomaternal outcome in the rural setup

Background Increasing evidence associates abnormalities in vaginal flora during pregnancy with preterm labor and delivery with potential neonatal sequelae due to prematurity and poor perinatal outcome. So the objective of this study is to study the prevalence of different type of vaginal infection during pregnancy and its fetomaternal outcome.

Methods This study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and with the help of Dept of Microbiology in Adichunanagiri institute of Medical College (AIMS) BG Nagar, over a period of one year extending from October 2013 to September 2014. This study was conducted on 920 pregnant women, evaluated for vaginitis during pregnancy and studied for the fetomaternal outcome.

Results After vaginal microflora evaluation of the 920 women, revealed that 840 (91.3%) women had normal vaginal flora, 38 (4.13%) of them were diagnosed as candidiasis, and 26 (2.83%) had BV, 10 (1.09%) had Trichomonasis and 6 (0.65%) had mixed infection. From 80 patients with vaginitis, 35 of them had PROM (term and preterm), 22 of them had preterm delivery, 11 of them had anemia, 6 of them had oligohydramions and 10 of them had pueperial sepsis with vaginitis during pregnancy. So the association of vaginitis with fetomaternal outcome was highly significant (p < 0.0001).

Conclusions Vaginal ecosystem study with the detection of pathogens is a key instrument in the prevention of preterm delivery, pPROM, chorioamnionitis, neonatal, puerperal and maternal-fetal infections.