SUMMARYVaginal complaints compel an evaluation of
bacterial vaginosis (BV), however, many cases of BV are
asymptomatic. We evaluated the
sensitivity and specificity of
vaginal symptoms in the diagnosis of BV and examined the
utility of creating a BV screening tool using clinical, behavioural and demographic characteristics. A total of 1916
pregnant women were included in this analysis. In total, 757 women screened positive for BV and over one third of BV-positive women presented without any lower
genital tract
symptoms (39.4%). African American race, abnormal
vaginal odour, and
smoking were independently related to BV positivity. A BV screening tool including these three factors was fairly predictive of BV status with the area under the
ROC curve equal to 0.669. This three-item prediction rule may be useful in identifying high- risk
pregnant women in need of BV screening and, given the high specificity, accurately identify the group of BV-negative
pregnant women.
