The association between homocysteine and bacterial vaginosis: results from NHANES 2001–2004

Abstract

Although no study has directly shown the relationship between bacterial vaginosis (BV) and homocysteine (HCY), we still found some association between these two through extensive literature and data analysis. BV score was calculated by Nugent’s method, less than equal to 6 is negative and greater than equal to 7 is positive. This article describes interrelationships we mined from data extracted by NHANES regarding BV and HCY under multiple covariates. We used two cycles of NHANES 2001–2002 and 2003–2004 in our study. We included 2398 participants in our study who recently completed the interview and the MEC tests. By investigating the relationship between BV and HCY under multivariate conditions, multiple linear regression analysis was performed. These factors may have influenced the results, such as ethnicity, age, education level, body mass index (BMI), etc. Serum vitamin B12, ferritin, percentage of segmented centrioles, and number of segmented centrioles were selected as potential covariates in our study. We observed that both the coarse model and the two adjusted models showed a high correlation between HCY and BV, and the correlation was positive. In the coarse model, OR = 1.26, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.10, 1.44, P = 0.0018); HCY was positively correlated with BV (OR = 1.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.05, 1.34, P = 0.0121). Multiple linear regression analysis was used to investigate the connection between BV and HCY under multivariate settings. The results of this study indicate that HCY is positively associated with the prevalence of BV and may play an important role in the prevention and management of BV.