A STUDY OF THE ROLE OF BACTERIAL VAGINOSIS IN PRETERM LABOUR FROM TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN INDIA

Introduction- Preterm labour is a challenging issue for the obstetricians even today. It is the largest contributor to the perinatal morbidity and mortality throughout the world. With the improvement of neonatal care, there has been a dramatic improvement in neonatal survival rates of preterm infants. But Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) care is expensive and a preterm baby is at an increased risk of many complications like respiratory distress syndrome (RDS), hyperbilirubinemia, etc. So preterm labour is not only a medical and social problem but also an economic burden. Objective- Our study aims at detecting the incidence of bacterial vaginosis in preterm labour and comparing it with the control i.e. Pregnant women admitted in labour room at term. Materials and Methods- This study was conducted at Dr. D.Y. Patil Medical College and Research Centre, Pimpri, Pune from 1st August 2006 to 31st July 2008 after taking permission from the institution’s ethical board committee. The patients were divided into 2 groups: Group I- 60 pregnant patients diagnosed as preterm labour, between 24-36 weeks gestation, were screened for Bacterial Vaginosis. Group II- 60 pregnant women admitted in labour room at term were taken as control (>37 weeks gestation). Results and Observations- 45% of the patients in Group I and 13.33% of the patients in Group II had bacterial vaginosis. 80% of the patients in group II had normal vaginal flora as compared to only 18.33% in group I. Out of 60 preterm cases 13.33% of the patients had intermediate Bacterial Vaginosis and 45% had definite Bacterial Vaginosis. Conclusion- Significant percentage of pregnant women with preterm labour had lower genital tract infections. They can be easily screened for bacterial vaginosis using Nugent’s scoring and treated with a combination of clotrimazole and clindamycin (local application). Nugent’s method is considered the gold standard method for microbiological detection of bacterial vaginosis