ABSTRACT

Aim: The study aims to evaluate the prevalence of vaginal candidiasis and associated risk factors

Study design: Cross sectional study

Place and duration: This study was conducted in Muhammad Medical and Dental College Mirpurkhas, Pakistan from March 2020 to March 2021.

Methodology: The present study includes a total of 216 participants who had presented with symptoms of vaginal candidiasis. During this whole duration, 1800 patients visited the department. The laboratory investigations used in this regard were Gram-stained smears, vaginal cultures, and wet mount microscopy. Evaluation of risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, pregnancy, and use of contraceptive pills and antibiotics was keenly done. The data was recorded and analyzed in IBM SPSS version 26.

Result: Vaginal candidiasis was diagnosed in 26 (12.03%) participants. The most common symptom observed was pruritus in 184 (85.18%), the second was vaginal discharge in 143 (66.20%), the third was soreness in 67 (31.01%) and dyspareunia was seen in 11 (5.09%) participants. Candida albicans were present in 172 (79.63%) participants, while non-albicans were present in 44 (20.37%) participants. Diabetes, pregnancy, reproductive age, and use of contraceptive drugs and antibiotics were associated with both Candida albicans and non-albicans. However, dyspareunia and soreness were significantly associated with non-albicans. The rate of recurrence was 8.8%. Recurrence was positively correlated with non-albicans species.

Conclusion: The prevalence of Candida albicans specie is much greater than non-albicans species. Vaginal candidiasis is a common health issue in the community as well as in hospitalized patients. Common risk factors of vaginal candidiasis are reproductive age, pregnancy, sexual activeness, diabetes, use of contraception, use of antibiotics, and cancer. The most common clinical symptom of vaginal candidiasis is pruritus.

Keywords: Candida albicans, non-albicans, vaginal candidiasis