Impact of (recurrent) bacterial vaginosis on quality of life and the need for accessible alternative treatments

Abstract Background Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is one of the most common vaginal dysbiosis in women aged 15-44 years old. Methods We administered a cross-sectional, single timepoint survey to women ages 18 years or older and who have had bacterial vaginosis (BV). Women completed an anonymous online su...

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Main Authors: Karen Chow (Author), Darcy Wooten (Author), Sindhuja Annepally (Author), Leah Burke (Author), Rina Edi (Author), Sheldon R. Morris (Author)
Format: Book
Published: BMC, 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z.
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042 |a dc 
100 1 0 |a Karen Chow  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Darcy Wooten  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Sindhuja Annepally  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Leah Burke  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Rina Edi  |e author 
700 1 0 |a Sheldon R. Morris  |e author 
245 0 0 |a Impact of (recurrent) bacterial vaginosis on quality of life and the need for accessible alternative treatments 
260 |b BMC,   |c 2023-03-01T00:00:00Z. 
500 |a 10.1186/s12905-023-02236-z 
500 |a 1472-6874 
520 |a Abstract Background Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is one of the most common vaginal dysbiosis in women aged 15-44 years old. Methods We administered a cross-sectional, single timepoint survey to women ages 18 years or older and who have had bacterial vaginosis (BV). Women completed an anonymous online survey evaluating the impact of BV on their quality of life, how effective different types of treatments were and the amount of self-diagnosed vs. provider diagnosed BV episodes they had. Results 62 participants completed the anonymous online survey. With a self-reported median number of BV episodes in the past year was 4 (IQR 1-7). Among these women 69.8% reported BV had a negative impact on their sexual health, 67.7% on their physical health, 74.6% on their mental health. More than half of the respondents had used probiotics with oral Lactobacillus sp. (53.2%), mainly by oral route, and over a third had used vaginal boric acid (37.1%). Most women were unaware of Lactobacillus crispatus. Lactobacillus probiotics were more likely to be tried by women who were negatively impacted by BV for overall quality of life (p = 0.033), sexual health (p = 0.002), and mental health (p = 0.006) while boric acid use was more likely to be used by women who were negatively impacted by BV for their sexual health (p = 0.008). Conclusions BV is associated with negative quality of life and the women most impacted are seeking alternative treatments such as probiotics (Lactobacillus) and boric acid. There needs to be improvements in BV treatment that include alternative therapy options that have demonstrated efficacy with standardized composition, formulation and dosage. 
546 |a EN 
690 |a Bacterial vaginosis 
690 |a Recurrent bacterial vaginosis 
690 |a Boric acid 
690 |a Lactobacillus 
690 |a Alternative therapies 
690 |a Gynecology and obstetrics 
690 |a RG1-991 
690 |a Public aspects of medicine 
690 |a RA1-1270 
655 7 |a article  |2 local 
786 0 |n BMC Women's Health, Vol 23, Iss 1, Pp 1-5 (2023) 
787 0 |n https://doi.org/10.1186/s12905-023-02236-z 
787 0 |n https://doaj.org/toc/1472-6874 
856 4 1 |u https://doaj.org/article/1a00286480c44b1bb4060b15d11aadc3  |z Connect to this object online.