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Abstract
Clinicians frequently rely on a history of genitourinary symptoms or the appearance
of vaginal discharge to diagnose infections of the vagina and cervix. To determine
the diagnostic efficacy of these clinical criteria, we studied 254 unselected abolescent
females presenting for reproductive health care. Of the 254 subjects, 105 (41%) had
one or more lower genital tract infections (LGTI). Genitourinary symptoms were found
to have a sensitivity of 48%, specificity of 78%, positive predictive value (PPV)
of 61%, and negative predictive value (NPV) of 68% for the detection of LGTI. When
abnormal vaginal discharge was used as an indicator of LGTI, the sensitivity was 65%,
specificity 89%, PPV 81%, and NPV 78%. These data suggest that genitourinary symptoms
and the appearance of vaginal discharge are inadequate indicators of the presence
or absence of lower genital tract infection in adolescent females.
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Article info
Footnotes
†Presented in part at the Plenary Session of the Annual Meeting of the Ambulatory Pediatric Association, Washington, D.C., May 9, 1986.
Identification
Copyright
© 1988 Springer-Verlag New York Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
