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Survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–United States, 2021
Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common infection, and high-quality studies report that misdiagnosis is frequent, with diagnostic testing needed to distinguish it from other causes of vaginitis and avoid inappropriate empiric treatment. However, few recent studies have evaluated U.S. healthcare p...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Public Library of Science
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9803167/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36584109 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278630 |
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author | Benedict, Kaitlin Moret, Ravan Molinari, Noelle Angelique M. Jackson, Brendan R. |
author_facet | Benedict, Kaitlin Moret, Ravan Molinari, Noelle Angelique M. Jackson, Brendan R. |
author_sort | Benedict, Kaitlin |
collection | PubMed |
description | Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common infection, and high-quality studies report that misdiagnosis is frequent, with diagnostic testing needed to distinguish it from other causes of vaginitis and avoid inappropriate empiric treatment. However, few recent studies have evaluated U.S. healthcare providers’ testing practices for VVC in detail. We evaluated healthcare providers’ self-reported testing practices for VVC and treatment outcomes as part of a nationwide online survey in order to identify potential opportunities for improving VVC testing and treatment in the United States. Among 1,503 providers surveyed, 21.3% reported “always” (7.4%) or “usually” (13.9%) ordering diagnostic testing for patients with suspected VVC; this proportion was higher among gynecologists (36.0%) compared with family practitioners (17.8%) and internists (15.8%). Most providers (91.2%) reported that patients’ VVC “always” (6.4%) or “usually” (84.9%) responds to initial treatment. Whether the symptom resolution reported in this survey was truly related to VVC is unclear given high rates of misdiagnosis and known widespread empiric prescribing. With only about one-in-five providers reporting usually or always performing diagnostic testing for VVC despite guidelines recommending universal use, research is needed to address barriers to proper testing. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9803167 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | Public Library of Science |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-98031672022-12-31 Survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–United States, 2021 Benedict, Kaitlin Moret, Ravan Molinari, Noelle Angelique M. Jackson, Brendan R. PLoS One Research Article Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a common infection, and high-quality studies report that misdiagnosis is frequent, with diagnostic testing needed to distinguish it from other causes of vaginitis and avoid inappropriate empiric treatment. However, few recent studies have evaluated U.S. healthcare providers’ testing practices for VVC in detail. We evaluated healthcare providers’ self-reported testing practices for VVC and treatment outcomes as part of a nationwide online survey in order to identify potential opportunities for improving VVC testing and treatment in the United States. Among 1,503 providers surveyed, 21.3% reported “always” (7.4%) or “usually” (13.9%) ordering diagnostic testing for patients with suspected VVC; this proportion was higher among gynecologists (36.0%) compared with family practitioners (17.8%) and internists (15.8%). Most providers (91.2%) reported that patients’ VVC “always” (6.4%) or “usually” (84.9%) responds to initial treatment. Whether the symptom resolution reported in this survey was truly related to VVC is unclear given high rates of misdiagnosis and known widespread empiric prescribing. With only about one-in-five providers reporting usually or always performing diagnostic testing for VVC despite guidelines recommending universal use, research is needed to address barriers to proper testing. Public Library of Science 2022-12-30 /pmc/articles/PMC9803167/ /pubmed/36584109 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278630 Text en https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/This is an open access article, free of all copyright, and may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, modified, built upon, or otherwise used by anyone for any lawful purpose. The work is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) public domain dedication. |
spellingShingle | Research Article Benedict, Kaitlin Moret, Ravan Molinari, Noelle Angelique M. Jackson, Brendan R. Survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–United States, 2021 |
title | Survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–United States, 2021 |
title_full | Survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–United States, 2021 |
title_fullStr | Survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–United States, 2021 |
title_full_unstemmed | Survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–United States, 2021 |
title_short | Survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–United States, 2021 |
title_sort | survey of healthcare providers’ testing practices for vulvovaginal candidiasis and treatment outcomes–united states, 2021 |
topic | Research Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9803167/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36584109 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0278630 |
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