Evaluation of interobserver reliability of Nugent score for diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis

BACKGROUND: Vaginal discharge is the commonly narrated compliant of the female attendees of sexually transmitted infection clinic, among which bacterial vaginosis (BV) is responsible for one-third of the visits. BV is often diagnosed clinically which warrants laboratory confirmation. AIMS: The study aims to detect the reliability of the Nugent scoring system between observers for the diagnosis of BV. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a prospective study including 177 high vaginal swabs. The gram-stained smears were examined by three independent microbiologists, and the Nugent scoring was performed. Statistical analysis was performed using IBM-SPSS version-22 statistical package for kappa value. RESULTS: Concordant results were seen in 64.03% of smears, discordant results were given in 4.51% of smears, and partial agreement was observed in 31.63% of smears. CONCLUSION: Interobserver reliability is good for the Nugent score. The Nugent score is a simple and reliable method for the diagnosis of BV that can be adapted even in the resource poor settings.