title: [Comparative study between the pH test and of the KOH versus Nugent score for diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis in pregnant women].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence of bacterial vaginosis and to compare the accuracy of testing pH and KOH with the Nugent gradient, the gold standard for the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis (BV) in asymptomatic and symptomatic pregnant women at low risk.
  
  
  METHODS
  We conducted a cross-sectional study on 321 pregnant women with gestational age between 14 and 26 weeks, 218 of them asymptomatic and 103 with vaginal complaints suggestive of bacterial vaginosis. All women were assessed by the criteria of Nugent and subjected to the measurement of vaginal pH and to the 10% KOH test. The Kappa coefficient was used to evaluate the methods in terms of diagnostic agreement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Most patients were adolescents (mean age 21.0 ± 5.6 years), nulliparous and mulattos. The prevalence of bacterial vaginosis was 33.3% as estimated by the pH and KOH method and 35.5% by the Nugent method. Excellent agreement of the methods was found among asymptomatic pregnant women, with 72.5% of them showing negative results to both tests, which resulted in a high Kappa coefficient (k=0.82). The group of symptomatic women showed 49.5% positivity to both diagnostic methods, with excellent agreement (k=0.74).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of bacterial vaginosis determined by both the pH and KOH method and the Nugent score was high. The pH and KOH method can diagnose bacterial vaginosis as accurately as the Nugent criterion.
authors.affiliation: Universidade Estadual de Ciências da Saúde de Alagoas - UNCISAL - Maceió (AL), Brasil.
authors.forename: Ana Aurélia Salles
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Alessandra Plácido Lima
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Leite
authors.forename: Clarissa Verena Ferraz
authors.initials: CV
authors.lastname: Lisboa
authors.forename: Camila Cerqueira
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Andrade
authors.forename: Antônio Fernando
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Bezerra
authors.forename: Rosiane
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mattar
authors.forename: Eduardo de
authors.initials: Ed
authors.lastname: Souza
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D006878:Hydroxides; D017680:Potassium Compounds; D011247:Pregnancy; D011251:Pregnancy Complications, Infectious / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism; D015995:Prevalence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016585:Vaginosis, Bacterial / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D006878:Hydroxides; D017680:Potassium Compounds; C029943:potassium hydroxide