Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Faculty of Pharmacy, International University of Africa, Khartoum, Sudan.
Department of Pharmaceutics, College of Pharmacy, Jouf University, Sakaka, Al-Jouf Province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
J Infect Dev Ctries. 2022 Aug 30;16(8):1243-1251. doi: 10.3855/jidc.15536.
Vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC) is a yeast infection of the vulva, which is caused by Candida species and affects women worldwide. Pregnant women are more vulnerable to VVC due to certain risks. Moreover, their offspring are also exposed to the risk of preterm birth. In this context, ascertaining the burden of VVC is of paramount importance and this meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the occurrence of VVC among pregnant women in Africa.
Database search was carried out through PubMed, Scopus, Science-Direct, and Google Scholar from the date of inception until December 2020. All the studies on the prevalence of VVC among African pregnant women were included in the analysis. The pooled prevalence was estimated based on the Random-effect model DerSimonian-Laird approach with Freeman- Tukey double arcsine transformed proportion. Heterogeneity was assessed using I2 test and subsequently explored using subgroup and meta-regression analysis.
A total of Sixteen records having a sample size 4,185 were included in this study. The overall prevalence of VVC was pooled at 29.2% (CI 95%: 23.4 - 33.0). Subgroup analysis revealed a higher prevalence in Eastern Africa, followed by Western Africa and North Africa (35%, 28%, and 15% respectively). Moderator analysis indicated that the studies that used advanced methods of detection had a higher prevalence (p = 0.048). In addition, the large sample size was associated with higher prevalence (p ≤ 0.001). No other moderators were found to be statistically significant.
The overall prevalence of VVC among African pregnant women is comparable to other studies worldwide. However, appropriate identification techniques and larger sample size could likely be associated with an increased prevalence. Our findings necessitate the need for further investigations to determine the geographical distribution of VVC across African regions.
外阴阴道念珠菌病（VVC）是一种由念珠菌属引起的外阴酵母菌感染，影响全世界的女性。孕妇由于某些风险更容易患 VVC。此外，她们的后代也面临早产的风险。在这种情况下，确定 VVC 的负担至关重要，本荟萃分析旨在估计非洲孕妇中 VVC 的发生情况。
通过 PubMed、Scopus、Science-Direct 和 Google Scholar 数据库进行检索，检索时间为建库至 2020 年 12 月。纳入所有关于非洲孕妇 VVC 患病率的研究进行分析。采用随机效应模型 DerSimonian-Laird 方法，以 Freeman-Tukey 双反正弦变换比例进行汇总患病率估计。采用 I2 检验评估异质性，随后进行亚组和荟萃回归分析。
本研究共纳入 16 项研究，样本量为 4185 项。VVC 的总患病率为 29.2%（95%CI：23.4-33.0）。亚组分析显示，东部非洲的患病率较高，其次是西部非洲和北部非洲（分别为 35%、28%和 15%）。调节分析表明，使用先进检测方法的研究具有更高的患病率（p=0.048）。此外，大样本量与更高的患病率相关（p≤0.001）。没有发现其他调节因素具有统计学意义。
非洲孕妇 VVC 的总体患病率与全球其他研究相当。然而，适当的识别技术和更大的样本量可能与更高的患病率相关。我们的研究结果需要进一步调查，以确定 VVC 在非洲各地区的地理分布。
