Prevalence of antenatal vulvovaginal candidiasis: our experience

Abstract

Background: The objective of our study is to determine the prevalence of vulvovaginal candidiasis and influence of maternal age, parity or trimester on its occurrence among pregnant women, attending the antenatal clinic in our teaching hospital. It helps us to understand the magnitude of the problem in our region and to implement the necessary treatment modalities to reduce the preterm births attributed to vaginal candidiasis.Methods: It was a hospital based prospective study over a period of six months. High vaginal swabs were collected from the pregnant patients after getting consent and sent for culture. Candida positive cases were noted and results were analysed.Results: A total of 200 high vaginal swabs were collected and reported in our study. Among them 108 swabs were positive for Candida growth (54%) and 92 swabs were negative for growth (46%). Culture positive patients clinical details were analyzed and statistical significance was noted (based on age group, parity and trimester).Conclusions: Our study concluded that candidiasis is more prevalent in pregnant women but there was no statistical significance in occurrence of vaginal candidiasis among various age groups, parity or trimester. Hence it is better to screen all the patients in I/ early II trimester in order to find out and treat positive cases early to prevent preterm births attributed to vaginal candidiasis.