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Background: The use of vaginal white blood cell (WBC) counts to predict sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in the emergency department (ED) is incompletely characterized., Objectives: Our objective was to assess the relationship between vaginal wet preparation WBC counts and STIs and to determine whether WBC counts of at least 11 WBCs per high-power field (HPF) could be useful for identifying STIs in women in the ED., Methods: Female ED patients 18 years or older who were evaluated in a single health system between April 18, 2014, and March 7, 2017, and had a genital wet preparation WBC result were retrospectively examined using univariable and multivariable analysis., Results: Vaginal wet preparation WBC counts were examined for 17,180 patient encounters. Vaginal WBC counts of at least 11 WBCs/HPF were associated with increased odds of having gonorrhea, chlamydia, or trichomoniasis. When this threshold was used for the diagnosis of each STI, sensitivity ranged from 48.2% to 53.9%, and specificity ranged from 67.2% to 68.8%., Conclusion: Women with STIs are more likely to have higher vaginal WBC counts. However, higher vaginal wet preparation WBC counts in isolation have limited diagnostic utility for gonorrhea, chlamydia, and trichomoniasis. Incorporation of age, urine leukocyte esterase results, and vaginal WBC counts provided a better predictor of an STI than vaginal WBC counts alone., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Bartholin gland cysts or abscesses account for many gynecologic visits in the emergency department (ED). Previous smaller studies have suggested a link between Bartholin cysts/abscesses and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but few studies have involved the ED., Methods: We retrospectively identified patients aged 18 years or older seen in 1 ED between January 2012 and March 2017 who had urinalysis and urine culture and/or were tested for gonorrhea, chlamydia, or trichomonas by nucleic acid amplification testing. Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to evaluate associations between Bartholin cysts/abscess and demographics, laboratory findings, and ED diagnoses., Results: Data were collected for 75,000 ED patients; 64 patients had a diagnosis of Bartholin cyst or abscess, 40 of whom were also tested for Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Chlamydia trachomatis. Ten percent of patients with a Bartholin cyst/abscess were infected with N gonorrhoeae, compared with 3% of those without a Bartholin cyst/abscess (P = .008). The rates of C trachomatis and Trichomonas vaginalis infections were 13% and 26%, respectively, among patients with a Bartholin cyst/abscess, compared with 8% and 30%, respectively, among those without a Bartholin cyst/abscess (P > .05 for both). On regression analysis, only increased urobilinogen level (β, 0.31; odds ratio, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.11-1.66; P = .003) and infection with N gonorrhoeae (β, 1.69; odds ratio, 5.40; 95% CI, 1.43-20.35; P = .01) were associated with a Bartholin cyst/abscess., Conclusions: Clinicians in the ED should consider testing patients with a Bartholin cyst/abscess for gonorrhea., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Prostatitis is one of the most common urologic diseases in ambulatory patients. However, prostatitis data are limited from the emergency department (ED) setting., Methods: A data set was examined of patients age 18 years or older who received urinalysis and urine culture or were tested for gonorrhea, chlamydia, or trichomonas in the ED from a health care system in northeast Ohio., Results: Of 19,308 ED encounters of male patients, 77 encounters (0.4%) involved the diagnosis of prostatitis. Men with prostatitis were younger (52.4 vs 66.3 years), were less likely to be hospitalized (27.3% vs 43.1%), had shorter clinical encounters (1336.5 vs 3019.3 min), and were less likely to arrive by emergency medical services or police (6.5% vs 45.5%) than men diagnosed with urinary tract infection (UTI) without prostatitis (n = 2527) (P ≤ .007 for all). Of the men with urinalysis, those with prostatitis had less bacteria (0.9+ vs 1.8+), blood (0.9+ vs 1.5+), glucose (4.0% vs 13.0%), leukocyte esterase (0.9+ vs 2.3+), nitrite positive (8.0% vs 21.4%), protein (0.5+ vs 1.2+), squamous epithelial cells (0.6 vs 1.7 per high-power field [HPF]), red blood cells (18.3/HPF vs 29.5/HPF), and white blood cells (31.6/HPF vs 57.6/HPF) than men diagnosed with UTI and no prostatitis (P ≤ .005 for all). Escherichia coli was the most common bacterium growing in the urine (58.8%; n = 10) and the blood (100.0%; n = 2) of men with prostatitis; however 73.0% (n = 17) of urine cultures and 90.9% (n = 22) of blood cultures had no bacterial growth. Of 77 patient encounters with prostatitis, 16 (20.8%) underwent testing for Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Chlamydia trachomatis and 3 (3.9%) for Trichomonas vaginalis. Of those tested, only 1 person was infected, with C trachomatis., Conclusion: Prostatitis was uncommonly diagnosed in men undergoing urinalysis and urine culture or testing for sexually transmitted infections in the ED., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)