Clinical and laboratory findings among women attending a basic healthcare clinic in Dhaka
| Mean age (SD) and percentage of women with corresponding characteristics | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Client groups‡ | ||||||
| AC (n=243) | EPI (n=144) | FP (n=555) | PI (n=592) | VD (n=345) | Overall (n=1879) | |
| ‡Tested for all cervical and vaginal pathogens. | ||||||
| AC = antenatal care, EPI = expanded programme on immunization, FP = family planning, PI = pregnancy interruption, VD = vaginal discharge. | ||||||
| BVTV = bacterial vaginosis or T vaginalis infection, HBcAg = hepatitis B core antigen, HSV-2 = herpes simplex virus type 2. | ||||||
| ¶Only currently married women. | ||||||
| *No information for 38 women. | ||||||
| †Women with abnormal vaginal discharge. | ||||||
| §p<0.001 between vaginal discharge and other groups. | ||||||
| •RPR reactive and TPHA positive. | ||||||
| Mean age (years) | 21.9 (4.4) | 23 (4.9) | 26.8 (6.5) | 25.6 (6.0) | 27.9 (6.5) | 26 (6.3) |
| Polygamous marriage¶ | 2.5 | 5.6 | 9.3 | 10 | 8.6 | 8.3 |
| Symptoms | ||||||
| Change in vaginal discharge | 25 | 22 | 31 | 30 | 75§ | 36 |
| Speculum examination* | ||||||
| Abnormal vaginal discharge | 13 | 13 | 10 | 14 | 33§ | 15 |
| Cervical mucopus | 10 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 33§ | 15 |
| Laboratory findings | ||||||
| Cervical pathogens | ||||||
| N gonorrhoeae | 0.8 | — | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.5 |
| C trachomatis | 2.5 | 2.1 | 1.3 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 1.9 |
| Any cervical pathogen | 2.9 | 2.1 | 1.6 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.2 |
| Vaginal pathogens | ||||||
| T vaginalis | 1.2 | 1.4 | 1.6 | 1.7 | 3.8 | 2.0 |
| Candida sp† | 25 | 17 | 24 | 24 | 17 | 21 |
| Bacterial vaginosis† | 41 | 28 | 28 | 24 | 30 | 29 |
| BVTV† | 41 | 33 | 29 | 31 | 32 | 32 |
| Any vaginal pathogen† | 63 | 50 | 51 | 54 | 47 | 51 |
| Antibodies to : | ||||||
| T pallidum• | 2.1 | 2.8 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 2.9 |
| HBcAg | 33.9 | 34.7 | 35.7 | 32.7 | 40.6 | 35.3 |
| HSV-2 | 7.9 | 9.8 | 10.5 | 13.6 | 15.4 | 12.0 |