ABSTRACT
Bacterial vaginosis alters normal vaginal flora and leads to gynecologic complications. Early diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis is so important, because of being asymptomatic of about fifty percent of patients. This study was conducted to study the diagnostic value of the Papanicolaou smear in the screening of bacterial vaginosis compared with vaginal Gram stain as a standard method. This analytic cross- sectional study was conducted on 150 consecutive patients referred to a gynecologic clinic. Each patient had a standard Papanicolaou smear and Gram stain of vaginal discharge. Detection of clue cell in Pap smear, and fulfill of Nugent criteria in Gram stain of vaginal discharge was diagnosed as bacterial vaginosis. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, and negative predictive value of the Papanicolaou smear were calculated compared with the results of Gram stain as the standard method for diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis. In our study, Pap smear had sensitivity of 69.23%, specificity of 99.24%, positive predictive value of 94.73% and negative predictive value of 94.28% in the diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis. This study showed that vaginal Pap smear is a valid and reliable method in detecting bacterial vaginosis