Table 4.

Association of growth forms of Gardnerella spp. and Lactobacillus spp. in relation to BV status.

Bacterial growth form	Nugent scoring				ORa (95% CI)	p-valued	Ison-Hay criteriab				ORc (95% CI)	p-valued
	Total N	Nugent 0–3 (%) (n = 119)	Nugent 4–6 (%) (n = 25)	Nugent 7–10 (%) (n = 52)			Total N	Class I (%) (n = 110)	Class II (%) (n = 32)	Class III (%) (n = 50)
Gardnerella spp.
Absent	111	95 (86e)	10 (9)	6 (5)	Reff	<0.001g	108	91 (84h)	12 (11)	5 (5)	Reff	<0.001g
Dispersed forms	9	8 (89)	1 (11)	0 (0)	-i	-	9	8 (89)	1 (11)	0 (0)	-	-
Biofilms	76	16 (21)	14 (18)	46 (61)	27 (11 – 69)	<0.001	75	11 (15)	19 (25)	45 (60)	31 (11 – 85)	<0.001
Lactobacillus spp.
Absent	29	13 (45e)	6 (21)	10 (35)	Reff	0.002g	27	11 (41h)	7 (26)	9 (33)	Reff	0.003g
Dispersed forms	115	63 (55)	14 (12)	38 (33)	-	-	113	59 (52)	17 (15)	37 (33)	-	-
Biofilms	52	43 (83)	5 (10)	4 (8)	0.17 (0.057 – 0.49)	0.001	52	40 (77)	8 (15)	4 (8)	0.17 (0.058 – 0.50)	0.001

^aOdds ratio (95% confidence intervals); Exposure: bacterial growth forms; Outcome: BV-positive (Nugent score 7-10) vs. BV-negative (Nugent score 1-3 and 4-6); Entering significance level of 0.05; Removing significance level of 0.1; Only significant OR was displayed.

^bClass IV and 0 omitted for comparison with Nugent scoring.

^cOdds ratio (95% confidence intervals); Class IV and 0 omitted for comparison with Nugent scoring; Exposure: bacterial growth forms; Outcome: BV-positive (Class III) vs. BV-negative (Classes I and II); Entering significance level of 0.05; Removing significance level of 0.1; Only significant OR was displayed.

^dSignificant p-values (<0.05) are indicated in bold.

^eRow percentage between Nugent score categories.

^fUsed as a reference category for OR.

^gχ² test.

^hRow percentage between classes I, II, and III.

ⁱNot available or not applicable.