Self-taken vaginal swabs versus clinician-taken for detection of candida and bacterial vaginosis: a case-control study in primary care

BACKGROUND

Vaginal discharge and vulvitis are common presenting symptoms in general practice. Few studies have specifically looked at the validity of self-taken low vulvovaginal swabs (LVS) for the diagnosis of vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) and bacterial vaginosis (BV).

AIM

To assess if patient self-taken LVS are a valid alternative to clinician-taken high vaginal swabs (HVS) for the detection of VVC and BV.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Case-control study with the patient acting as their own control in an urban sexual health centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

METHOD

Females aged 16-65 years attending with symptomatic vaginal discharge, vulval irritation, genital pain, and an offensive genital smell were recruited into the study. Participants took a self-taken LVS before vaginal examination, during which a clinician took an HVS (reference standard). Main outcome measures were the diagnosis of BV or VVC infection.

RESULTS

A total of 104 females were enrolled. Of those, 45 were diagnosed with VVC and 26 with BV. The sensitivities of self-taken LVS for VVC and BV were 95.5% and 88.5% respectively. Cohen's κ coefficient showed 'strong agreement' for the detection of both VVC and BV. Vulval itching was the most common symptom associated with VVC (69%), whereas 50% of females diagnosed with BV presented with an offensive discharge. Both symptoms had poor positive predictive values (0.63 and 0.50, respectively).

CONCLUSION

Self-taken LVS appears to be a valid alternative to clinician-taken HVS for detecting VVC and BV infections. Symptoms were found to be a poor indicator of underlying infection.

Relationship between length and width of the purple line and foetal head descent in active phase of labour

Purple line is one of the non-invasive methods to assess the progress of labour. This longitudinal observational study was performed on 350 women during the active phase of labour. We assessed the relationship between length and width of the purple line and foetal head descent. Women were examined in the lateral position and researcher recorded the presence or absence of the line before each vaginal examination. Where present length and width of the line was measured using a disposable tape measure. The purple line appeared in 75.3% of 350 women during the active phase of labour. There was a positive correlation between length of the purple line and station of the foetal head (r = +0.29, p = .001). There was also a medium positive correlation between width of the purple line and the station of the foetal head (r = +0.71, p < -.001). There is a positive correlation between purple line and station of the foetal head. Where the purple line is present, measurement of it may reduce the number of vaginal examinations, especially when the single aim is to measure station of the foetal head. Further research is needed to confirm the current finding in other races. IMPACT STATEMENT Current knowledge on the subject: In the literature, purple line is one of the non-invasive methods to assess the progress of cervical dilatation and foetal head descent in labour. Failure of the foetal head is the second most common indication for performing surgical deliveries. Progression of labour has been evaluated by vaginal examination for the assessment of cervical dilatation and foetal head station. Vaginal examinations can be unpleasant, intrusive, embarrassing and so painful for women. Researchers suggested to explore whether the line is also present in women across other ethnic and racial groups and they also suggested further researches to examine the width of purple line. The contribution made by the results of this study: The results of this study add to the growing body of research on progression of labour that the purple line appeared in most of Iranian women during the active phase of labour. There was a positive correlation between length and width of the purple line and station of the foetal head. The implications are of these findings for clinical practice and further research: The results of this study can be used reduce the number of vaginal examinations, especially when the single aim is to measure station of the foetal head. Further research is needed to confirm the current finding in other races.