The diagnostic value of the lactate level in the vaginal fluid for determining the premature rupture of membranes

Aim: To determine the diagnostic value of the lactate concentration in vaginal secretions in determining the premature rupture of membranes (PROM) in pregnant women at the Alavi Educational Treatment Center in Ardebil 2010. Methods: This diagnostic clinical trial enrolled 100 pregnant women with a single pregnancy at the gestational age of 20-41 weeks. The women were divided to two groups of 50; the case group enrolled women with the premature rupture of membranes, and the control group consisted of women with intact membranes. To verify the PROM in both groups, the speculum, fern, and nitrazine tests were used. A Lactate Pro manual instrument was used to measure the lactate level of the vaginal fluid via enzymatic staining. A 5-mm aliquot of vaginal fluid was sufficient to determine the lactate level, which was displayed on the instrument's liquid crystal display after 60 seconds. Descriptive analytic statistics and SPSS 17 software were used to analyze the data. Results: The threshold of the lactate concentration was determined to be 4.6 mM. A sensitivity of 96%, specificity of 98.8%, accuracy of 97%, positive predictive value of 97.95%, and negative predictive value of 96.07% were determined for the lactate concentration in the vaginal fluid for the diagnosis of the PROM. Conclusion: Testing of the lactate level of the vaginal fluid appears to be an easy, rapid and valid method with high specificity and sensitivity that can be applied for the diagnosis of the PROM in pregnant women.