Vaginal Candidiasis in Women of Childbearing Age at the University Hospital of Brazzaville: Prevalence and Associated Factors

Introduction: Vaginal candidiasis is a fungal disease caused by a yeast type Candida. It affects more than 75% of women during the period of genital activity. Changes in vaginal pH due to various factors lead to the onset of the infection. Objective: Determine the prevalence of vaginal candidiasis in women of childbearing age and look for associated factors or risk for its occurrence. Patients, Materials and Method: We conducted a cross-sectional analytical study from July to October 2019. It concerned all patients aged 15 to 49 years, received at the Parasitology-mycology and parasitic immunology laboratory of the University Hospital of Brazzaville for an analysis of the vaginal sample. For each vaginal sample, a direct examination and culture on Sabouraud Chloramphenicol medium with and without Actidione were performed. A questionnaire was completed specifying age, medical and surgical history, symptoms and risk factors. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS 20 using Chi-square test and Student's test and multivariate logistic regression was performed. The test was significant when p Ë‚ 0.05. Results: Among 152 samples analyzed, 88 were positive on direct examination (48.7%) and 34 were positive after culture (22.4%). It concerned patients of mean age 32 years (24 years, 40 years), living with one sexual partner (79.4%), never had abortions (64.7%). We found the use of antibiotics (2.9%), corticosteroid therapy (5.9%) and diabetes (6.6%). Among the women included in the study, 32.4% were pregnant. 38.2% of patients used intimate bath and 14.7% used community bath towels; 23.5% wore synthetic underwear; 26.5% of tight clothing and 26.4% had wrong cleaning mode after defecation (p = 0.003). Symptoms associated with vaginal candidiasis were significantly leucorrhoea (38.2%; p = 0.000), burning sensation (22.4%; p = 0.003) and vulvar pruritus (35.5%; p = 0.016). The risk factors associated with the occurrence of vaginal candidiasis were the presence of leucorrhoea and the wrong cleaning mode after defecation associating both front to back / back to front. Patients with leucorrhoea had a 4.21 folds higher risk of vaginal candidiasis, while those with wrong cleaning mode front to-back / back-to-front had a 28.97 folds higher risk. Conclusion: Vaginal candidiasis is common in women of childbearing age with poor hygienic conditions. The associated factors identified are those found in the literature, among which, leucorrhoea and cleaning mode combined from front to back / back to front.