Re: Bacterial vaginosis
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Tue Apr 12 17:42:07 2005
so possibly preterm delivery and bacterial vaginosis, rather than cause
and effect, are fellow travelers?
art
At Tue, 12 Apr 2005, Dr. Ainsworth wrote:
>
>Antibiotic Treatment for Bacterial Vaginosis Does Not Prevent Preterm
>Birth
>
>NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Apr 01 - Antibiotic therapy for bacterial
>vaginosis or Trichomonas vaginalis during pregnancy does not cut the
>risk of preterm birth, according to the results of a systematic review.
>This finding runs counter to the conclusions reached by three previous
>reviews.
>
>"Because our review is more current and we were unable to demonstrate
>any benefit to antibiotic treatment, even among various subgroups of
>women, we believe there is inadequate evidence to justify a policy of
>screening and antibiotic treatment of high-risk women with bacterial
>vaginosis to reduce the risk of preterm birth," Dr. Nan Okun, from
>Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto, and colleagues note.
>
>The findings, which appear in the April issue of Obstetrics and
>Gynecology, are based on analysis of data from studies identified in a
>search of Pre-MEDLINE, MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library. A
>total of 39 papers were reviewed in detail, including 14 that were used
>in a meta-analysis.
>
>Although antibiotics cut the risk of persistent infection in women with
>bacterial vaginosis, they had no effect on the risk of preterm birth or
>its associated morbidities. This lack of effect was observed in both
>high- and low-risk women.
>
>Among women with Trichomonas vaginalis, metronidazole therapy reduced
>the risk of persistent infection, but did not prevent preterm birth, the
>investigators found.
>
>While this review suggests antibiotic treatment is not useful for
>preventing preterm births in women with bacterial vaginosis or
>Trichomonas vaginalis, the authors note that further randomized
>controlled trials, adequately powered to assess relevant clinical
>outcomes, are justified.
>
>Obstet Gynecol 2005;105:857-868.
--
art fougner, md
"If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else."
Lawrence Peter Berra
