Syndromic and Laboratory Diagnosis of Reproductive Tract Infections among Pregnant Women in Urban Field Practice Area, Hubli, Karnataka

Reproductive tract infections (RTIs )are a world wide public health problem, ignored by many women, before conception and also during pregnancy. This can lead to devastating consequences for both mother and fetus. Hence, a community based study was done in Hubli,to know the burden of the disease among pregnant women in the population. The pregnant women were interviewed,examined and specimens were collected for laboratory analysis of Gonorrhea, Trichomoniasis, Vaginal Candidiasis (VC), Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) and Syphilis in Urban Health Training Centre (UHTC), attached to Karnataka Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS), Hubli.

The prevalence of RTIs among pregnant women were 66.6% based on their symptoms and 61.5 % based on clinical examination. The laboratory tests revealed a prevalence of 51.28 %, including 8.9% with sexually transmitted infections. Syndromic diagnosis based on symptoms, was confirmed with laboratory tests, which was 53.9% of the cases. The Sensitivity of Syndromic approach,based on symptoms, over laboratory diagnosis of RTI was 70%, Specificity was 36.8% and Positive Predictive Value was 53.9%. To conclude the prevalence of RTI among pregnant women is high,confirmed by laboratory tests.Hence feasible tests should be advocated in the field for appropriate management of these cases.