Prevalence of vaginitis in Iranian women-- symptoms and clinical association

Vaginal infections are the most common problem among gynecologic out patient visits. Vaginal candidiasis (VC), Bacterial vaginosis (BV) and Trichomonas vaginitis(TV) are the three major type of lower genital tract infection. We aimed to determine the prevalence of VC, BV and TV among an unselected population of Iranian women and find out the association between women’s symptom and their vaginal examination. Using the stratified, multistage probability cluster sampling method, with a probability in proportion to size procedure, 1100 women aged 18-45 years, were randomly selected from reproductive aged women living in urban areas from four randomly selected provinces of different geographic regions of Iran. Each woman underwent an evaluation, including standardized history, interview and pelvic examination. The WHO criteria were used for clinical diagnosis of VC, BV and TV. 45.9% of women had symptom of vaginal infections. The clinical examination revealed vaginal infection in 41.3% of women, among them VC, BV and TV constitute the 47.4%, 13.7%, 38.9% of infection, respectively. Reported symptoms that might be attributable to vaginal infection can be considered as a clue for early diagnosis and specific treatment in low income settings.