Does midtrimester Nugent score or high vaginal pH predict gestational age at delivery in women at risk for recurrent preterm birth?
OBJECTIVE
To estimate whether bacterial vaginosis, as defined by either Nugent score or vaginal pH, predicts gestational age at delivery in women at risk for recurrent preterm birth.


METHODS
Planned secondary analysis of a randomized cerclage trial in women with prior spontaneous preterm birth 17⁰(/)⁷-33⁶(/)⁷ weeks. Vaginal Gram stain and pH were collected at the initial study visit. Women not assigned to cerclage, either because they did not experience cervical shortening <25 mm or because they were randomly assigned to no cerclage, were studied.


RESULTS
Seven hundred eighty-six women had complete delivery gestational age, Gram stain, and pH results. The diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis by either Nugent score ≥ 7 or by pH ≥ 5 was not associated with earlier birth.


CONCLUSIONS
The presence of bacterial vaginosis at 16-21⁶(/)⁷ weeks does not predict gestational age at birth in women at risk for recurrent preterm birth.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA.
Dana
D
Figueroa
Melissa S
MS
Mancuso
Jeff M
JM
Szychowski
Merri Maddox
MM
Paden
John
J
Owen
D000328:Adult; D023802:Cerclage, Cervical; D005260:Female; D005840:Gentian Violet; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D007743:Labor, Obstetric; D010619:Phenazines; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D047928:Premature Birth / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012306:Risk; D055502:Secondary Prevention; D013194:Staining and Labeling; D014621:Vagina / Q000737:chemistry / Q000382:microbiology; D016585:Vaginosis, Bacterial / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis
C035863:Gram's stain; D010619:Phenazines; D005840:Gentian Violet