IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0141905.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Associated with Bacterial Vaginosis among Women Who Have Sex with Women: A Systematic Review

Author

Listed:
  • Dana S Forcey
  • Lenka A Vodstrcil
  • Jane S Hocking
  • Christopher K Fairley
  • Matthew Law
  • Ruth P McNair
  • Catriona S Bradshaw

Abstract

Background: Women who have sex with women (WSW) have a higher burden of bacterial vaginosis (BV) than heterosexual women; studies of risk factors specific to this population are limited. We summarised current knowledge regarding risk factors for BV among WSW by systematic review. Methods: This systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA statement. PUBMED, EMBASE, Web of Science and The Cochrane Library were searched to 31st December, 2014. Inclusion criteria: 1) WSW included in the study population; 2) accepted BV diagnostic method; 3) investigated or could extrapolate factors(s) associated with BV acquisition, persistence or transmission in WSW specifically by comparing BV positive to BV negative women. Search was limited to English-language publications. Results: A limited number of studies have investigated BV in WSW. Of 71 unique references, 18 full-text articles were assessed and 14 studies fulfilled inclusion criteria. BV was positively associated with higher numbers of female partners, both lifetime and in the three months prior to diagnosis, and confirmed BV in a female partner, but inconsistently associated with partners’ BV history or symptoms. BV was not associated with ethnicity, vaginal douching or hormonal contraception. The impact of specific sexual activities, male sexual contact, smoking and the menstrual cycle varied considerably between study populations. Conclusion: BV in WSW is associated with increased numbers of recent and past female partners and confirmed BV in a female partner. There are limited studies of BV in WSW populations, and research is needed to further elucidate risk factors for BV among WSW. However these data provide epidemiological evidence that BV risk in women is directly related to exposure to other female partners and a partner with BV, providing support for the concept that BV is likely to be transmitted between women. Systematic Review Registration Number: CRD42014009536 (PROSPERO)

Suggested Citation

  • Dana S Forcey & Lenka A Vodstrcil & Jane S Hocking & Christopher K Fairley & Matthew Law & Ruth P McNair & Catriona S Bradshaw, 2015. "Factors Associated with Bacterial Vaginosis among Women Who Have Sex with Women: A Systematic Review," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(12), pages 1-15, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0141905
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141905
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141905
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141905&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0141905?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0141905. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.