Cargando…

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...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Benedict, Kaitlin, Moret, Ravan, Molinari, Noelle Angelique M., Jackson, Brendan R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2022
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
_version_ 1784861820934160384
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
work_keys_str_mv AT benedictkaitlin surveyofhealthcareproviderstestingpracticesforvulvovaginalcandidiasisandtreatmentoutcomesunitedstates2021
AT moretravan surveyofhealthcareproviderstestingpracticesforvulvovaginalcandidiasisandtreatmentoutcomesunitedstates2021
AT molinarinoelleangeliquem surveyofhealthcareproviderstestingpracticesforvulvovaginalcandidiasisandtreatmentoutcomesunitedstates2021
AT jacksonbrendanr surveyofhealthcareproviderstestingpracticesforvulvovaginalcandidiasisandtreatmentoutcomesunitedstates2021