Bacterial Vaginosis and Vitamin D in Pregnant Women
The most common vaginal infection that inflicts women of childbearing age in the United States is Bacterial Vaginosis (BV). The infection occurs when there is a disorder in the normal balance of bacteria in the vagina resulting in an overgrowth of a certain bacteria. Having BV increases a woman’s risk for certain complications such as preterm delivery.
The good news however is that there is a growing interest in understanding how to prevent the infection from spreading. Because Vitamin D influences several aspects of the immune system, it may play a role in BV under the presumption that the infection is far more common in black women than in white women, the reason being that black women tend to have a considerably lower vitamin D status than white women.
Bodnar and coworkers at the University of Pittsburgh and the Magee-Women’s Research Institute studied 469 pregnant women in order to assess whether poor vitamin D status plays a role in the predisposition of BV to women. The outcome of their investigation came out in the June 2009 issue of the Journal of Nutrition.
The study investigated the connection between vitamin D status and BV in 260 black women and in 209 white women less than 16 weeks pregnant. Samples of their blood were taken and markers of vitamin D status were analyzed in their serum. The women went through pelvic examinations and afterwards Gram-stained vaginal smears were assessed to diagnose BV.
The collected data indicates that out of the total number of women enrolled, 41% had BV and out of that percentage, 93% had shown an insufficiency in vitamin D. The occurrence of BV reduced as the concentration of vitamin D in their serums increased. In conclusion, these findings show that there is an association between vitamin D insufficiency and BV in the first trimester of a woman’s gestation.