Judith Perez Peralta
St. Luke’s Medical Center, Philippines
Title: Do probiotics decrease recurrence of vaginitis? A retrospective descriptive study conducted by an OB –GYN infectious diseases specialty clinic on Asian women
Biography
Biography: Judith Perez Peralta
Abstract
A retrospective, descriptive study of women with persistent vaginal discharge referred to an infectious disease specialty clinic.
Objectives: (1) To describe the sociodemographic factors of women with recurrent/ persistent vaginal discharge seen in an infectious disease specialty clinic (2) To describe the clinical outcomes of women with persistent/recurrent vaginal discharge following outpatient treatment (3) To compare the outcomes by type of vaginal infection and treatment with antimicrobials and probiotics.
Background: Persistent/recurrent vaginal discharge is a common problem among women and most cases are managed with empiric treatment for bacterial vaginosis, and not referred to infectious diseases specialists until several treatment failures. Furthermore, there are few available descriptive studies regarding outcomes following specific therapy with antimicrobials and adjunctive therapy with probiotics among Asian women seen in infectious disease specialty facilities.
Methods and Measures: De-identified data from out-patient medical records of women seen from 2015 to 2019 were retrieved from a private infectious disease out- patient facility in an urban tertiary hospital in the Philippines. Subjects were classified by type of vaginal infection based on clinical presentation, diagnostic tests, and type of appropriate treatment, such as antimicrobials and probiotics. Data on treatment response and number of treatment visits were also collected.
Results: Descriptive and inferential statistics will be calculated for all data to determine the frequency distribution of the different types of recurrent vaginitis in the patient population, response to treatment and number of treatment visits. Sociodemographic data will be analyzed to determine the average age of the patients and other associated risk factors.
Hypothesis: This study will demonstrate that women with diverse types of recurrent vaginitis show clinical improvement after specific therapeutic intervention using the appropriate use of diagnostic tests and antimicrobials. This study will show the increasing role of probiotics in the armamentarium against vaginal infections.
Conclusions: The results of this study will be available by the time of the conference.