Bacterial Vaginosis: Prevalence and Risk Factors among Women in Dakar, Senegal

Introduction: Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is an imbalance of the vaginal flora that most commonly affects women of childbearing age. It is characterised by discomfort due to vaginal discharge and is associated with serious complications in women. We aimed to determine the prevalence of BV and its risk factors.

Methodology: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional descriptive study in November 2020 at the Pasteur Institute of Dakar among women who were seen for vaginal sampling. We collected the following parameters: age, parity, history of infection, pregnancy and contraception. VB was diagnosed using the Amsel criteria and the Nugent score. Scoring is based on the presence of different bacterial morphotypes where a score ≥ 7 indicates the presence of BV, 4-6 indicates intermediate flora and 0- 3 normal flora. Analysis was performed using SPSS version 20.0.A statistically significant difference between the occurrence of bacterial vaginosis and a risk factor was retained for a p value < 0.05.

Results: A total of 236 patients were included with a median age of 38 years. The prevalence of BV was 20.3%. It was more prevalent in women aged between [30-40 years] (28/101, 27.7%) followed by the age group [20-30 years] (13/51, 25.5%) with a statistically significant difference (p=0.0001).VB was more prevalent in nulliparous or primiparous women (28/118, 23.7%) and in those with no history of vaginal infections (20/83, 24.1%). Pregnant women and women without contraception were more affected with respectively (12/42, 28.6%) and (43/199, 21.6%). No relationship was found between BV and these previous potential risk factors.

Conclusion: BV is a very common condition in women of childbearing age. Its complexity motivates numerous researches in order to elucidate its real implication in the occurrence of adverse gynecological conditions.