Frequency of Group B Streptococci in Pregnant Women in a Tertiary Care Hospital.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency and risk factors of Group B Streptococci (GBS) in pregnant patients in third trimester in a tertiary care hospital in Lahore. STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional, prospective study. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: Lady Willingdon Hospital, Lahore, from October 2014 to March 2015. METHODOLOGY: Sterile lower vaginal swabs were taken from 200 women aged 20 years and over, in third trimester, with no history of vaginal bleeding, ruptured membrane, recent intake of antibiotics or chronic illness. These swabs were cultured for detection of GBS. The risk factors of GBS and its frequency were noted in the pregnant population. Quantitative and qualitative data was analyzed by SPSS version 20. Chi-square test was applied to see association between diagnosis of GBS and other categorical variables. P-value ≤0.05 was considered as statistically significant. RESULTS: In this study, the mean age of all the females was 26.36 ± 4.32 years and mean duration of pregnancy was 35.54 ± 2.65 weeks. Frequency of GBS in pregnant women was found as 14%. We observed significant association of GBS with parity and previous history of miscarriage (p-value = 0.033 and 0.010 respectively). Moreover, significant association between vaginal discharge and GBS was also found (p = 0.027). CONCLUSION: GBS is present in a small but significant number of pregnant women in our setting and it has association with multiparity, vaginal discharge during pregnancy, and previous history of miscarriage.