Investigation of the relationship between obesity and bacterial vaginosis using microbiological methods and anthropometric measurements

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), one of the most common causes of abnormal vaginal discharge, is the most common vaginal syndrome in women of fertile age. Although the cause of vaginal flora change in patients with BV is unknown, its pathogenesis is still not fully explained. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between obesity and BV using Nugent score and body mass index (BMI). Data were obtained from fertile age patients admitted to the gynecology policlinic of a state training and research hospital with vaginal discharge, itching between 1st. May 2019 and 1 st. November 2019. Pregnant women, menstrual bleeding, patients with a history of gynecological cancer, contraceptives/antibiotic/vaginal drug use during the previous three weeks, chronic disease and sexual intercourse in the last two days were excluded from the study. A total of 106 sexually active patients were included in the study. The anthropometric measurements of the patients included in the study were performed by the dietitian and then the BMI was calculated. For further microbiological examination, vaginal specimens were collected with sterile swabs and smears were made by gynecologist. Gram-staining of air-dried preparations and Nugent scoring were performed by medical microbiologist for evaluation of bacterial vaginosis. According to the Nugent score, patients were classified as BV, intermediate and normal. Using BMI, patients were classified as obese (36.8 %), overweight (34.9 %), normal (28.3 %). Nugent scoring method revealed that 33 (31.1 %) of 106 patients had intermediate flora, 45 (42.5 %) had BV and 28 (26.4 %) had normal flora. When we compare Amsel Criteria with Nugent scoring; the specificity, sensitivity, PPD and NPD of the Amsel criteria were found to be 9.84 %, 100 %, 45 % and 100 %, respectively. As a result of the statistical analysis, no significant relationship was found between BMI and BV.