Bacterial Vaginosis and its Relation with Sociodemographic Determinants in married reproductive age females
Aim: To determine the frequency of Bacterial vaginosis by pap smear cytology and find its association with its sociodemographic determinants. Study design: Cross sectional analytical study Place and duration of study: Department of Histopathology, Shaikh Zayed Hospital, Lahore from 1st January 2016 to 31st October 2016. Methodology: Two hundred and sixty pap smears of married women of reproductive age group with vaginal discharge who attended Gynecology OPD were included. Proper history regarding age, socioeconomic status, age of marriage, literacy level, smoking, and nutritional status was taken. Results: Disease prevalence was found to be 19.2%(50)in this sample of 260 while 9.1% had Candidiasis, 47%, 17.2% ,3.7%, 4.1% had Mild nonspecific inflammation, Moderate nonspecific inflammation, Moderate to severe nonspecific inflammation, and negative smears respectively. Bacterial vaginosis was associated with age, monthly income, illiteracy, early age at marriage, history of abortion and nutritional status with significant p-value ≤ 0.05. However no association was found between the disease and marital status, smoking and pallor. Conclusion: Low socioeconomic status, literacy, age >35, nutritional status is strongly related to occurrence of bacterial vaginosis in women of reproductive age group with vaginal discharge. Key Words: Bacterial vaginosis, Pap smear, Sociodemographic determinants