Subclinical iron deficiency is a strong predictor of bacterial vaginosis in early pregnancy

BMC Infectious Diseases

Table 1 Basic clinical characteristics of the study population.

	Healthy vaginal microflora (n = 80)	Disturbed vaginal microflora (n = 18)	p-value
Maternal age (years) – mean ± SD	30.5 ± 4.7	30.2 ± 5.7	0.8
Gestational age (weeks) – mean ± SD	9.3 ± 2.6	8.7 ± 2.8	0.4
Body mass index (kg/m²) – mean ± SD	22.7 ± 4.0	24.9 ± 5.8	0.05
Body mass index (kg/m²) – % (n)
<25	77.5% (62)	50.0% (9)	0.04
≥25	22.5% (18)	50.0% (9)
Parity – % (n)
0	43.8% (35)	16.7% (3)	0.04
≥1	56.3% (45)	83.3% (15)
Gravidity – % (n)
0	35.0% (28)	11.1% (2)	0.05
≥1	65.0% (52)	88.9% (16)
Smoking – % (no)
Yes	11.1% (2)	22.2% (4)	0.1
No	88.9% (16)	77.8% (14)

Healthy vaginal flora is defined as grade I or lactobacilli-dominated microflora on Gram stain (corresponding to a Nugent score 0 – 3) and disturbed vaginal flora is defined as grade II and grade III flora, this is mixed or gram-negative rods-dominated microflora on Gram stain (corresponding to a Nugent score ≥4). Body mass index (BMI) refers to the BMI at entry to prenatal care and is calculated as weight (kg)/[length (m)]².

ISSN: 1471-2334