Comparison of Effectiveness of Probiotic versus AntibioticMonotherapy in the Treatment of Bacterial Vaginosis: A Quasiexperimental Study

Authors

Abstract

Objective: To compare the treatment success rate among women with bacterial vaginosis receiving either probiotic or antibiotic monotherapy.

Methods

A quasi-experimental study was conducted in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology at Lady Willingdon Hospital, Lahore, from August 2022 to March 2023. Total 168 women were allocated into two non-randomized groups of equal size. Group A (n = 84) received probiotics twice daily for six weeks, while Group B (n = 84) received antibiotics twice daily for seven days. At six weeks post-intervention, women meeting at least three of the four Amsel's criteria were diagnosed as bacterial vaginosis positive; those who did not were considered treated successfully. Chi-square test used to compare the treatment success rate between groups.

Results

 The distribution of baseline characteristics was comparable between study groups (all p-values >0.05). Six weeks after intervention, women in Probiotic group had slight higher frequency of vaginal discharge (60.7% vs. 57.1%; p value 0.638), and significantly lower frequencies of fishy odor vaginal fluid (33.3% vs. 51.2%; p-value 0.019), vaginal pH >4.5 (22.6% vs. 53.6%; p-value <0.001), and presence of clue cells (20.2% vs. 36.9%; p-value 0.017). Overall 63.7% women were successfully treated. The women in Probiotic group showed significantly higher treatment success rate as compared to the Antibiotic group (71.4% vs. 56.0%; p-value 0.037).

Conclusion

 Probiotics were more effective than antibiotics in treating bacterial vaginosis, with higher success rates and better symptom resolution. These findings support probiotics as a viable standalone treatment option.

Keywords:

Probiotics, Antibiotics, Effectiveness, Bacterial, Vaginosis

Published

2026/06/03

Issue

Vol. Volume 7-issue 2

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