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Review: papanicolaou and wet mount smears have low sensitivity but high specificity for detecting vaginal trichomoniasis

Data sources
Studies were identified by searching Medline (1976 to February 1998) and reference lists of relevant articles.

Study selection
2 reviewers independently selected studies that described diagnostic tests for vaginal trichomoniasis, used trichomonas culture as the diagnostic standard, and were published in any language.

Data extraction
2 reviewers independently extracted data on study setting and validity of study design and for 2 x 2 contingency tables. The quality of study methods was classified as level I (2 criteria fulfilled), level II (1 criterion fulfilled), or level III (no criteria fulfilled). The following criteria were used: consecutive patients were evaluated prospectively, the test result did not influence the decision to apply the diagnostic test, and the test of interest and the diagnostic standard were blinded and independently examined. Disagreement was resolved by discussion.

Main results
30 studies (31 comparisons, 9501 women) met the selection criteria (level I, 12 studies; level II, 15 studies; and level III, 4 studies). . . . [Full text of this article]

Diane Harper, MD, MSc, MPH

Dartmouth Medical School Lebanon, New Hampshire, USA