Abstract:

Objective To investigate the role of dry chemical test for vaginal secretion determination in the diagnosis of common vaginal diseases. Methods A total of 1 800 patients diagnosed as vaginitis were enrolled. Using dry chemical test,vaginal secretions were determined for 5 kinds of enzymes,including proline iminopeptidase（PIP）,saliva neuraminidase（SNA）,coagulase（COA）,N-acetylglucosaminidase（NAG） and glucosidase（GUS）. Vaginal secretion smear Gram staining microscopy was performed simultaneously. Results The results of vaginal secretion smear Gram staining microscopy were used as standard. The sensitivities of dry chemical test for bacterial vaginosis （BV）,vulvovaginal candidiasis and trichomonas vaginitis were 45.39%,44.68% and 92.31%,and the specificities were 97.14%,85.70% and 96.20%,respectively. The positive predictive values were 88.18%,36.73% and 34.95%,and the negative predictive values were 79.12%,89.29% and 99.82%,respectively. The consistency rates were 80.61%,79.28% and 96.11%,and the inconsistency rates were 19.39%,20.72% and 3.89%,respectively. The positive rate of BV for 1 800 cases of vaginal secretions by dry chemical test was lower than that by vaginal secretion smear Gram staining microscopy （χ²=515.24,P<0.001）. The positive rates of vulvovaginal candidiasis and trichomonas vaginitis by dry chemical test were higher than those by vaginal secretion smear Gram staining microscopy （χ²=142.36 and 537.70,P<0.001）. Conclusions Dry chemical test can not replace vaginal secretion smear Gram staining microscopy. It should make full use of 2 methods' advantages to improve the accuaracy of determination results.

Key words: Dry chemical test, Gram staining microscopy, Bacterial vaginosis, Vulvovaginal candidiasis, Trichomonas vaginitis