Characteristics of Vulvo-Vaginal Infections in 9- to 13-Year-Old Girls Undergoing Rapid Puberty.

BACKGROUND: This study was conducted to investigate the characteristics of vulvo-vaginal infections in 9- to 13-year-old girls undergoing rapid puberty. METHODS: Three hundred ninety girls aged 9 - 13 years who experienced vulvo-vaginal infections while undergoing rapid puberty and were treated at West China Second University Hospital from July 2017 to June 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. The incidences of bacterial vaginosis (BV), intermediate BV, and vulvo-vaginal candidiasis (VVC) and the differences in these incidences for patients of different ages were analyzed. RESULTS: The incidences of BV, intermediate BV, VVC, and unknown pathogenic vaginitis were 35.38%, 35.13%, 19.23%, and 10.26%, respectively. The incidence of BV was significantly higher than that of VVC. The positive rates of Candida albicans (C. albicans) and non-albicans Candida infections differed significantly at 80.00% and 20.00%, respectively. The BV and intermediate BV incidences did not significantly differ by age. The VVC incidence was significantly lower for 9-year-old girls than for girls of other ages. CONCLUSIONS: Girls undergoing rapid puberty are more susceptible to BV and intermediate BV infections than to VVC infections. The VVC incidence was lowest in 9-year-old girls. More attention should be paid to the effects of female estrogen levels, the vaginal microecosystem, and menstrual hygiene on vulvo-vaginal infections in girls undergoing rapid puberty.

The dynamic changes of vaginal microecosystem in patients with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis: a retrospective study of 800 patients.

PURPOSE: Vaginal microecological environment is an important factor of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis (RVVC). This study was undertaken to investigate dynamic changes of vaginal microecosystem in patients with RVVC. METHODS: Four hundred patients with VVC and 400 healthy women of reproductive age who admitted to the hospital from January 2012 to December 2013 were evaluated retrospectively. Vaginal microecological factors were evaluated before and after treatment until no recurrence, including vaginal cleanliness, white blood cells, Lactobacillus, Lactobacillus classification, bacteria density, flora diversity, Nugent scores, etc. The grouping was done according to the recurrence of the disease. Every time after treatment, the relapsing patients were defined as case group and the cured patients without recurrence were defined as control group. The differences in the results between the case and the control groups were analyzed by t test. RESULTS: With the development of RVVC, the ages of all case groups were lower than the corresponding control groups. In different stages of the disease, the bacteria density of the case groups and their corresponding control groups had no significant difference (P > 0.05). Most of the microecological indicators of the first occurring group were significantly different (P < 0.05) from that of the control group. In the recurrence groups, only a few indicators were significantly different from the control groups. The values of all vaginal microecological indicators (except Lactobacillus) of all case groups were higher than that of the control groups. The values of Lactobacillus of all RVVC case groups were lower than that of the RVVC control groups. CONCLUSIONS: There were vaginal microecological imbalances in all developing stages of RVVC. As for vaginal flora, diverse sorts changed to normal Lactobacillus dominantly with the development of RVVC. In the first occurrence of RVVC, after antifungal treatment, Lactobacillus is suggested to be timely supplemented to restore vaginal microecological balance.

Prospective, sequential, longitudinal study of coagulation changes during pregnancy in Chinese women.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate changes and establish reference values for coagulation variables during normal pregnancy and after delivery in Chinese women. METHODS: A prospective, sequential, longitudinal study with strict inclusion and exclusion criteria was performed with 232 Chinese women. RESULTS: Prothrombin time, international normalized ratio, activated partial thromboplastin time, and activated partial thromboplastin time ratio were shorter, and platelet count decreased gradually during pregnancy, with no change in mean platelet volume; conversely, plasma concentration of both fibrinogen and fibrin/fibrinogen degradation product increased. All these variables were normalized during the postpartum. Reference values by gestational week were established for platelet count, fibrinogen concentration, and fibrin/fibrinogen degradation product concentration. CONCLUSIONS: These reference values may be used in the health assessment of pregnant women with a similar socioeconomic and ethnic background.