Validation of vaginal discharge syndrome among pregnant women attending obstetrics clinic, in the tertiary hospital of Western India

INTRODUCTION: Sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are major public health problem. The laboratory tests for diagnosing STI are often unavailable or too expensive. Therefore, World Health Organization has recommended a syndromic approach for diagnosis and management of STI/reproductive tract infections (RTIs). Very few studies so far had evaluated effectiveness of the syndromic approach in diagnosing STI/RTIs in pregnancy. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Validation of syndromic management for vaginal discharge syndrome in pregnancy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out which included 233 pregnant females attending obstetric clinic. They were subjected to clinical examination, vaginal swab collection, and serological tests. RESULTS: A total of 183 (78.54%) pregnant females had vaginal discharge on clinical examination and Candida albicans was the most common clinical diagnosis among them. Of 183 cases diagnosed clinically as vaginal discharge syndrome, 38 (20.7%) were tested positive in laboratory investigations. Out of 50 clinically negative cases, 9 (18%) were detected positive for one of the STIs on laboratory testing. CONCLUSION: Syndromic approach for management of vaginal discharge syndrome resulted in over-treatment of 78% (false positive) and under-diagnosis of 19.1% (false negative) pregnant females. Hence, integration of antenatal screening services in the form of laboratory tests for vaginal discharge is recommended.