Dissemin is shutting down on January 1st, 2025

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Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins, Journal of Lower Genital Tract Disease, 1(28), p. 76-83, 2023

DOI: 10.1097/lgt.0000000000000790

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Dequalinium Chloride for the Treatment of Vulvovaginal Infections: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Objective/Purpose Women at reproductive age frequently experience vulvovaginal infections and vaginitis. The most common etiologies are vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), bacterial vaginosis (BV), desquamative inflammatory vaginitis/aerobic vaginitis, and trichomoniasis. Various treatment options are available for these infections, such as specific antimicrobial or antiseptic agents. Dequalinium chloride (DQC) is a local antiseptic agent with a broad antimicrobial and antifungal spectrum. Multiple studies suggest that DQC is an efficient treatment for vaginal infections; however, it is not widely recommended as a first-line treatment. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate the efficacy of DQC compared with that of standard treatment. Methods Our systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. PubMed/MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, and clinicaltrials.org were searched to retrieve relevant reports up to October 2022. Results Four randomized controlled studies and 1 observational study were included in this review. Overall, DQC showed noninferiority to the reference treatments for BV and VVC, and to the evaluated treatment options for desquamative inflammatory vaginitis/aerobic vaginitis. For BV and VVC, this could also be confirmed in a meta-analysis including 3 randomized controlled studies. No serious adverse events were reported in any of these studies. Conclusions Dequalinium chloride offers a safe, well-tolerated, and efficient treatment option for vulvovaginal infections of different etiologies. However, further studies are needed to confirm our findings and allow inclusion of DQC as a first-line treatment into guidelines.