Prevalence of bacterial vaginosis in lesbians and heterosexual women in a community setting.
Open accessAbstract
OBJECTIVES: High prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (BV) has been reported in lesbians but most studies were based in sexually transmitted infection clinic settings; therefore, we wished to determine the prevalence and risk factors of BV in lesbians and heterosexual women in a community setting in the UK. METHODS: A cross-sectional study recruiting lesbian women volunteers from community groups, events, clubs and bars. Heterosexual women were recruited from a community family planning clinic. They self-swabbed to create a vaginal smear, which was Gram-stained and categorised as BV, intermediate or normal flora. They completed a questionnaire about age, ethnic group, smoking, genital hygiene practices and sexual history. RESULTS: Of 189 heterosexuals and 171 lesbians recruited, 354 had gradeable flora. BV was identified in 43 (25.7%) lesbians and 27 (14.4%) heterosexuals (adjusted OR 2.45, 95% CI 1.25 to 4.82; p = 0.009). Concordance of vaginal flora within lesbian partnerships was significantly greater than expected (27/31 (87%) couples, kappa = 0.63; p<0.001). Smoking significantly increased the risk of BV regardless of sexuality (adjusted OR 2.65; p = 0.001) and showed substantial concordance in lesbian partnerships but less than for concordance of flora. CONCLUSIONS: Women who identified as lesbians have a 2.5-fold increased likelihood of BV compared with heterosexual women. The prevalence is slightly lower than clinic-based studies and as volunteers were recruited in community settings, this figure may be more representative of lesbians who attend gay venues. Higher concordance of vaginal flora within lesbian partnerships may support the hypothesis of a sexually transmissible factor or reflect common risk factors such as smoking.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
BV is common among women, and even more so among women with female partners.
“BV is common among women, and even more so among women with female partners (310–312).”
From Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021 (2021) · cites this paper as [311]
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Haemophilus vaginalis vaginitis
Gardner, H. L., & Dukes, C. D. (1955) · American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · doi:10.1016/0002-9378(55)90095-8 · Cited by 820 · see citing works
Hay, P. E., Lamont, R. F., Taylor-Robinson, D., Morgan, D. J., Ison, C., & Pearson, J. (1994) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.308.6924.295 · Cited by 651 · see citing works
Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles
Ashton, J. R. (1994) · Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health · doi:10.1136/jech.48.5.527-a · Cited by 568 · see citing works
Measuring sexual behaviour: methodological challenges in survey research
Fenton, K. A. (2001) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.77.2.84 · Cited by 531 · see citing works
Hydrogen Peroxide--Producing Lactobacilli and Acquisition of Vaginal Infections
Hawes, S. E., Hillier, S. L., Benedetti, J., Stevens, C. E., Koutsky, L. A., Wölner‐Hanssen, P., & Holmes, K. K. (1996) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1093/infdis/174.5.1058 · Cited by 525 · see citing works
Characterization of vaginal flora and bacterial vaginosis in women who have sex with women.
Marrazzo, J. M., Koutsky, L. A., Eschenbach, D. A., Agnew, K., Stine, K., & Hillier, S. L. (2002) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1086/339884 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
Baeten, J. M., Nyange, P. M., Richardson, B. A., Lavreys, L., Chohan, B. H., Martin, H. L., Mandaliya, K. N., Ndinya‐Achola, J. O., Bwayo, J. J., & Kreiss, J. K. (2001) · American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · doi:10.1067/mob.2001.115862 · Cited by 261 · see citing works
Sexually transmitted infections and risk behaviours in women who have sex with women.
Fethers, K. (2000) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.76.5.345 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Correlation of Behaviors with Microbiological Changes in Vaginal Flora
Schwebke, J. R., Richey, C. M., & Weiss, H. L. (1999) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1086/315065 · Cited by 227 · see citing works
Social and sexual risk factors for bacterial vaginosis
Smart, S. (2004) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.2003.004978 · Cited by 166 · see citing works
Hellberg, D., Nilsson, S., Haley, N. J., et al. (1988) · American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology · doi:10.1016/0002-9378(88)90093-2 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Sexual behaviour of lesbians and bisexual women
Bailey, J. (2003) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.79.2.147 · Cited by 147 · see citing works
Bacterial Vaginosis in Lesbians: A Sexually Transmitted Disease
Berger, B. J., Kolton, S., Zenilman, J. M., CUMMINGS, M. C., Feldman, J. G., & McCormack, W. M. (1995) · Clinical Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1093/clinids/21.6.1402 · Cited by 138 · see citing works
Sexually transmitted infections in women who have sex with women
Bailey, J. (2004) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.2003.007641 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
de Visser, R. O., Smith, A. M. A., Rissel, C. E., Richters, J., & Grulich, A. E. (2003) · Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health · doi:10.1111/j.1467-842x.2003.tb00802.x · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Bacterial Vaginosis, Ethnicity, and the Use of Genital Cleaning Agents: A Case Control Study
Rajamanoharan, S., Low, N. N., Jones, S. B., et al. (1999) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/00007435-199908000-00008 · Cited by 115 · see citing works
Sexual Behavior Risk Factors Associated With Bacterial Vaginosis and Chlamydia trachomatis Infection
Nilsson, U., Hellberg, D., Shoubnikova, M., Nilsson, S., & Mårdh, P. (1997) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/00007435-199705000-00001 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Bacterial Vaginosis in Lesbians and Bisexual Women
Bailey, J., Farquhar, C., & Owen, C. (2004) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/01.olq.0000143093.70899.68 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
The Use of Sequential Self-Obtained Vaginal Smears for Detecting Changes in the Vaginal Flora
Schwebke, J. R., Morgan, S. C., & Weiss, H. L. (1997) · Sexually Transmitted Diseases · doi:10.1097/00007435-199704000-00009 · Cited by 73 · see citing works
HEMOPHILUS VAGINALIS VAGINITIS
Gardner, H. L., & Dukes, C. D. (1959) · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1960.tb40901.x · Cited by 73 · see citing works
Bacterial vaginosis and smoking
Hellberg, D., Nilsson, S., & Pa, M. (2000) · International Journal of STD & AIDS · doi:10.1258/0956462001916461 · Cited by 72 · see citing works
A case-controlled study of the sexual health needs of lesbians.
Skinner, C., Stokes, J., Kirlew, Y., Kavanagh, J., & FORSTER, G. E. (1996) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.72.4.277 · Cited by 65 · see citing works
Bacterial Vaginosis in Lesbians: Evidence for Lack of Sexual Transmission
McCaffrey, M. P., Varney, P. A., Evans, B., & TAYLOR‐ROBINSON, D. (1999) · International Journal of STD & AIDS · doi:10.1258/0956462991914168 · Cited by 57 · see citing works
Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Lesbians
Edwards, A., & Thin, R. N. (1990) · International Journal of STD & AIDS · doi:10.1177/095646249000100304 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Blackwell, A. L. (1999) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.75.5.352 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
TAYLOR‐ROBINSON, D., Morgan, D. J., Sheehan, M., et al. (2003) · International Journal of STD & AIDS · doi:10.1258/095646203321043183 · Cited by 40 · see citing works
The association between receptive cunnilingus and bacterial vaginosis
Tchamouroff, S. E. (2000) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.76.2.144-a · Cited by 16 · see citing works
Atrial myxoma and HIV infection
Shaw, A. J. (2000) · Sexually Transmitted Infections · doi:10.1136/sti.76.2.144 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Sexually Transmitted Infections Treatment Guidelines, 2021
Workowski, K. A., Bachmann, L. H., Chan, P. A., Johnston, C. M., Muzny, C. A., Park, I., Reno, H., Zenilman, J. M., & Bolan, G. A. (2021) · MMWR. Recommendations and Reports · doi:10.15585/mmwr.rr7004a1 · Cited by 2,759 · see citing works
Muzny, C. A., Blanchard, E., Taylor, C. M., Aaron, K. J., Talluri, R., Griswold, M. E., Redden, D. T., Luo, M., Welsh, D. A., Van Der Pol, W. J., et al. (2018) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1093/infdis/jiy243 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Extravaginal reservoirs of vaginal bacteria as risk factors for incident bacterial vaginosis.
Marrazzo, J. M., Fiedler, T. L., Srinivasan, S., Thomas, K. K., Liu, C., Ko, D., Xie, H., Saracino, M., & Fredricks, D. N. (2012) · The Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1093/infdis/jis242 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Bradshaw, C. S., Walker, S. M., Vodstrcil, L. A., Bilardi, J. E., Law, M., Hocking, J. S., Fethers, K. A., Fehler, G., Petersen, S., Tabrizi, S. N., et al. (2014) · Journal of Infectious Diseases · doi:10.1093/infdis/jit664 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Olson, K. M., Boohaker, L. J., Schwebke, J. R., Aslibekyan, S., & Muzny, C. A. (2018) · Sexual Health · doi:10.1071/sh17087 · Cited by 25 · see citing works
- Authors
- Evans, A. L., Scally, A. J., Wellard, S. J., & Wilson, J. D.
- Affiliations
- Leeds General Infirmary (GB)
- University of Bradford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Evans, A. L
- ORCID
- Scally, A. J
- Venue
- Sexually Transmitted Infections
- Publisher
- BMJ
- Published
- 2007-07-11
- Volume
- 83
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 470-475
- ISSN
- 0007-134X (ISSN-L)
- 1368-4973
- PMC
- PMC2598706
- OpenAlex
- W2069094871
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 28
- Citations by year
- 2025: 3 · 2024: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 3 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 8
- FWCI
- 5.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Sexually Transmitted Infections (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Bradford Scholars (University of Bradford) (submittedVersion)
- HighWire Press Open Archive (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Microbiology › Reproductive tract infections research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Cervical Cancer and HPV Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Gynecological conditions and treatments
- Keywords
- bacterial vaginosis, lesbians, heterosexual women, prevalence, risk factors, vaginal microbiota, smoking, sexual transmission, community-based study
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Community Health Services, Cross-Sectional Studies, Ethnicity, Female, United Kingdom, Humans, Middle Aged, Risk Factors, Prevalence, Multivariate Analysis, Vaginosis, Bacterial, Homosexuality, Female, Heterosexuality
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
