Assessment of the Performance of the Aptima Bacterial Vaginosis Assay Over a 3-Month Period in a French Hospital

ABSTRACT Bacterial vaginosis (BV) is the most common cause of abnormal vaginal discharge. BV represents a dysbiosis with the acquisition of a diverse community of anaerobic bacteria and a reduction in lactobacilli burden. Our objective was to evaluate the Aptima BV assay kit for the diagnosis of BV. From May to August 2019, we enrolled outpatients and inpatients, including nonpregnant women above 18 with vaginosis symptoms, consulting at Nantes University hospital. The Aptima BV assay measures the loads of Gardnerella vaginalis, Atopobium vaginae, and Lactobacillus species in relation to overall bacterial load. The Aptima BV assay was compared to Nugent scoring (NS). A total of 456 women were enrolled, and 347 patients met the inclusion criteria with data available for the analysis. NS was used to classify the samples and 144 (41.5%) samples were classified as normal (NS = 0–3), 45 (13%) as BV (NS = 7–10), 38 (11%) presented an intermediate vaginal microbiota (3