Observational studyEuropean journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology2018
Abnormal vaginal microbioma is associated with severity of localized provoked vulvodynia. Role of aerobic vaginitis and Candida in the pathogenesis of vulvodynia.
Observational study in European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 23 citations in OpenAlex.
- The Involvement of Glutamate-mGluR5 Signaling in the Development of Vulvar Hypersensitivity.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- Exploring Immunome and Microbiome Interplay in Reproductive Health: Current Knowledge, Challenges, and Novel Diagnostic Tools.Seminars in reproductive medicine · 2023Review
- Long Term Outcome of Surgical Treatment of Central Introital Dyspareunia.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Article
- Vulvodynia Is Not Associated with Concurrent Candidal Vaginitis.Women's health reports (New Rochelle, N.Y.) · 2022Article
- Vaginal Microbiome Is Associated With Vulvodynia, Vulvar Pain Syndrome: A Case-Control Study.Sexual medicine · 2021Article
- Evaluation of Gut Microbiota in Patients With Vulvovestibular Syndrome.Journal of clinical medicine research · 2021Article
- The Dwindling Microbiota of Aerobic Vaginitis, an Inflammatory State Enriched in Pathobionts with Limited TLR Stimulation.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- The use of 3 selected lactobacillary strains in vaginal probiotic gel for the treatment of acute Candida vaginitis: a proof-of-concept study.European journal of clinical microbiology & infectious diseases : official publication of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology · 2020Article
- Vulvodynia.Nature reviews. Disease primers · 2020Review
- Vaginal Microbiota and Mucosal Immune Markers in Women With Vulvovaginal Discomfort.Sexually transmitted diseases · 2020Article
- The histopathological results of vestibulectomy specimens in localized provoked vulvodynia in Turkey.The Pan African medical journal · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Localized provoked vulvodynia (LPV) causes introital dyspareunia in up to 14% of premenopausal women. Vaginal infections like candidosis may play a initiating role. The aim of this study was to test a possible association of vaginal microbiota alternations such as Candida vaginitis (CV), aerobic vaginitis (AV) and bacterial vaginosis (BV) with severity of vulvodynia and painful intercourse. In an observational study, Q-tip touch test (score 1 (no pain) to 10 (worst possible pain)) was performed on seven vestibular locations in 231 LPV patients presenting in the Vulvovaginal Disease Clinics in Tienen, Leuven and Antwerp, Belgium. Severity of pain upon attempting sexual intercourse was recorded in a similar scale. Both scales were compared to results from fresh wet mount phase contrast microscopy on vaginal fluid smears tested for abnormal vaginal flora (AVF), BV, AV and CV according the standardized microscopy method (Femicare). Fisher's exact test was used. Average age was 31.3 ± 11.6 years, and 58.8% (n = 132) had secondary vestibulodynia. There was an inverse relation between the presence of Candida in the vaginal smears and pain score (p = 0.03). There was no relation of pain score, nor Q-tip score with BV. LPV patients with Q-tip score above 7 at 5 and/or 7 o'clock or at 1 and/or 11 o'clock had more often AV than women with lower pain scores (30 vs 14.5%, p = 0.01, and 39 vs 14.7%, p < 0.005, respectively). Detailed study of the vaginal microflora in patients demonstrates that the most severe patients suffer more from AV and less from Candida. These abnormalities need to be actively looked for and corrected before considering surgery or other therapies.
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