20.500.12556/DiRROS-24482 The Prevalence of bacterial vaginosis in pregnant women in Slovenia, determined via microscopy and semi-quantitative relative culture, and its association with adverse pregnancy outcomes Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is associated with various adverse pregnancy outcomes. It is usually diagnosed via microscopy. Semi-quantitative relative culture (SRC) was investigated as a complementary diagnostic method to determine the prevalence of BV and its association with preterm birth and preterm, premature rupture of membranes (PPROM) in pregnant women in Slovenia. We examined 3437 consecutive vaginal swabs from pregnant women during the five-year period and were able to link the results to 2531 pregnancy outcomes. The isolates were identified using MALDI-TOF, and the results were assessed by the relative amounts of Gardnerella vaginalis and lactobacilli according to two stringency criteria. The prevalence of BV was 6.5% via microscopy and was higher for SRC, 9.9% or 11.1%, depending on the stringency criteria. The association with adverse pregnancy outcomes was better when SRC was used, resulting in adjusted odds ratios of 1.76 (1.30 to 2.37) and 1.97 (1.38 to 2.82) for preterm birth and PPROM, respectively, with more stringent interpretation. Microscopically detected BV was not associated with either outcome. The clinical validity of SRC was demonstrated by its better correlation with adverse pregnancy outcomes in a large cohort of pregnant women. SRC with MALDI-TOF identification is a promising advancement of vaginal culture. bacterial vaginosis culture microscopy pregnancy preterm birth preterm premature rupture of membranes Slovenia bakterijska vaginoza kultura mikroskopija nosečnost prezgodnji porod prezgodnje prezgodnje pretrganje plodovih ovojev Slovenija true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2025-12-01 14:20:25 2025-12-01 14:20:25 2025-12-02 03:42:04 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2025 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 9. 3. 2025; 12 str. iss. 3, [article no.] 588 Vol. 13 2025 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno apc 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 618.2/.7 2076-2607 10.3390/microorganisms13030588 228368131 RAZ_Starc_Maja_2025.pdf RAZ_Starc_Maja_2025.pdf 1 2EF064C70A8D00D5D5DCD64EBD106F16 90a3195b302fad1f3f03019bfcf7727f0a96b7954b1f5369deebd762402bec25 a4aa494e-ceb8-11f0-94a7-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=36481 https://www.mdpi.com/2076-2607/13/3/588 1 813010fd-ceb8-11f0-94a7-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=36480 Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana 0 0 0