Relationship between infectious agents for vulvovaginitis and skin color

context and objective: many factors influence occurrences of vulvovaginitis. the aims here were to assess skin color and age-related differences in the vaginal flora and occurrences of vulvovaginitis. design and setting: cross-sectional study; tertiary referral hospital (universidade federal do triangulo mineiro, uberaba). methods: healthy women who underwent routine outpatient gynecological assessments were assessed for vulvovaginitis and vaginal flora and then divided into whites (n = 13,881) and nonwhites (n = 5,295). statistical analysis was performed using the x2 test, logistic regression and odds ratios. results: the vaginal microflora was skin-color dependent, with greater occurrence of clue cells, trichomonas vaginalis and coccobacilli in nonwhite women (p < 0.0001). d？derlein bacilli and cytolytic flora were more prevalent in white women (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.05, respectively). the vaginal microflora was age-dependent within the skin color groups. among the nonwhite women, clue cells were more prevalent in women aged 21 to 50 years; trichomonas in women up to 40 years and coccobacili in women between 21 and 40 years (p < 0.05). during the proliferative and secretory phases, the nonwhite women were more likely to present clue cells, trichomonas, candida and coccobacilli (or, proliferative phase: 1.31, 1.79, 1.6 and 1.25 respectively; secretory phase: 1.31, 2.88, 1.74 and 1.21 respectively), while less likely to present d？derlein flora (or, proliferative phase: 0.76; secretory phase: 0.66), compared with white women, irrespective of age. conclusions: there are differences in vulvovaginitis occurrence relating to skin color, which may be associated with variations in vaginal flora.