Bacterial vaginosis, vaginal flora patterns and vaginal hygiene practices in patients presenting with vaginal discharge syndrome in The Gambia, West Africa

Table 2 Association between vaginal micro-flora isolates and Nugent's vaginal flora categories and Amsel's diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis

		Association with Nugent's vaginal flora categories				Association with Amsel's diagnosis of BV
Isolate	Nugent¹	N²	%³	OR⁴ 95% CI	AOR⁵ 95% CI	Amsel⁶	N²	%³	OR⁴ 95% CI	AOR⁵ 95% CI
Lactobacilli	Normal flora	63	74.6	1	1
	Interm.	54	35.2	0.18 0.08–0.41	0.18 0.08–0.41	Neg.	152	42.8	1	1
	BV	102	16.7	0.07 0.03–0.15	0.06 0.03–0.15	Pos.	67	26.9	0.49 0.26–0.92	1.11 0.52–2.38
	P ⁷			<0.001	<0.001	P ⁷			0.025	0.775
H ₂ O ₂ - Lactobacilli	Normal flora	49	49.0	1	1
	Interm.	49	14.3	0.17 0.07–0.46	0.17 0.07–0.47	Neg.	134	24.6	1	1
	BV	97	10.3	0.12 0.05–0.28	0.12 0.05–0.31	Pos.	61	13.1	0.46 0.20–1.07	0.94 0.36–2.49
	P ⁷			<0.001	<0.001	P ⁷			0.067	0.909
G vaginalis	Normal flora	61	11.5	1	1
	Interm.	54	35.2	4.19 1.59–11.0	3.96 1.50–10.5	Neg.	150	35.3	1	1
	BV	102	71.6	19.42 7.91–47.6	15.45 6.18–38.6	Pos.	67	68.7	4.01 2.17–7.42	2.21 1.10–4.44
	P ⁷			<0.001	<0.001	P ⁷			<0.001	0.026
Anaerobic isolates ⁸	Normal flora	21	0	1	1
	Interm.	13	38.5	-⁹	-⁹	Neg.	43	18.6	1	1
	BV	31	48.4	-⁹	-⁹	Pos.	22	54.6	5.25 1.68–16.38	4.5 1.24–16.37
	P ⁷			0.001	- ¹⁰	P ⁷			0.003	0.018
Mycoplasma hominis	Normal flora	60	13.3	1	1
	Interm.	53	22.6	1.90 0.71–5.09	1.85 0.69–4.97	Neg.	148	18.9	1	1
	BV	102	25.5	2.22 0.93–5.29	2.00 0.80–4.96	Pos.	67	26.9	1.57 0.80–3.10	1.34 0.65–2.76
	P ⁷			0.184	0.282	P ⁷			0.188	0.436

¹ Nugent's categories: normal flora (score 0–3), intermediate flora (score 4–6), BV (score 7–10).
² Number of specimens.
³ Percentage positive for the isolate.
⁴ Crude Odds Ratio.
⁵ Odds Ratio adjusting for the other method of diagnosing BV.
⁶ Amsel's diagnosis 'positive' [pos.] if at least 3 out of 4 criteria present (homogenous adherent discharge; pH ≥ 4.6; whiff test positive; clue cells on 20% of epithelial cells); diagnosis is 'negative' [neg.] if <3 criteria present.
⁷ From X ² test for unadjusted analysis. From likelihood ratio test when adjusting for the other diagnostic method.
⁸ Anaerobic isolates comprise Prevotella spp, Bacteroides spp, Peptostreptococcus spp and other anaerobes.
⁹ Not possible to calculate OR relative to normal flora due to lack of anaerobic isolation in normal subjects.
¹⁰ Not possible to fit model due to lack of anaerobic isolation in normal subjects.

ISSN: 1471-2334