Comparison of the Frequency of Vaginal Infections in Women with Premature Delivery and Women with Term Delivery in Ali Ibn Abitaleb Hospital of Zahedan in 2018

Introduction: Premature birth is one of the most common causes of infant mortality worldwide. In many countries, preterm birth rates increased between 1990 and 2010. Vaginal infections are important causes of preterm labor (PTL). Therefore, this study aimed to determine the role of vaginal infections in causing preterm labor. Method: This study was a case-control study. The target population was pregnant women referring to Ali Ibn Abitaleb Hospital in Zahedan, Iran, in 2018 who were aged 20 to 38 years and were diagnosed with PTL. The control group included an equal number of women with the same age range but term labor. To investigate candida, trichomonas, bacterial vaginosis, and group B streptococcali, swab samples were taken from the vagina and rectum. Different laboratory methods were performed to isolate the above-mentioned microorganisms, including microscopy of wet mount smear, Gram stain, culture on Sabouraud agar, and 5% sheep blood agar. Moreover, four Amsel criteria were used to diagnose bacterial vaginosis. At last, the collected data were analyzed by SPSS-19 software with a p-value of 0.05. Results: A total of 300 patients were included in the study, and the mean age was not statistically significantly different between the two groups of PTL and term labor. No statistically significant difference was observed in the frequency of vaginal candidiasis (P=0.081), bacterial vaginosis (P=0.906), and trichomonas infection (P=0.904) between the two groups. Conclusion: It seems that the genital infections examined in this study do not play a role in increasing the prevalence of premature birth.