Table 1: Description of the characteristics of included studies.

Author, Year Country Design of Study Types of Microorganisms Methodology Follow-up Age Range (y) Sample Size
Reference
Vermund, et al. 1991 [19] USA Cross-sectional HPV PCR - 23-58 97
Miott, et al. 1996 [21] Malawi Cross-sectional HPV PCR 1 year - 284
Chiasson, et al. 1997 [47] USA Cross-sectional HPV PCR - >18 771
Uberti-foppa, et al. 1998 [23] Italy Cross-sectional HPV PCR 1 year and 10 months 21-64 268
Cu-uvin, et al. 1999 [2] USA Cohort BV Clinical examination 1 year and 9 months 16-55 1.31
HPV PCR
Candida sp. Culture
N. gonorrhoeae Serology
Treponema pallidum Culture
T. vaginalis Serology
Chlamydia trachomatis  
Warren, et al. 2001 [39] USA Cohort Gardnerella sp. Gram 1 year and 9 months 16-55 1.31
BV
Conley, et al. 2002 [22] USA Cohort HPV PCR 6 years and 11 months 16-35 925
Branca, et al. 2003 [26] Italy Cohort HPV PCR 2 years 17-45 142
Viscidi, et al. 2003 [27] USA Cohort HPV PCR 1 year and 9 months 16-55 2.559
Viscidi, et al. 2003b [28] USA cohort HPV PCR 1 year and 9 months 16-55 2.524
Ohmit, et al. 2003 [44] USA Cohort Candida sp. Culture 1 year and 9 months 16-55 1.31
Harris, et al. 2005 [29] USA Cohort HPV PCR 1 year 34-36 1.198
Watts, et al. 2005 [24] USA Cohort BV Nugent criteria 1 year and 1 month - 2.229
HPV PCR
T. vaginalis Fresh examination
Watts, et al. 2006 [25]. USA and Hawaii Cohort BV Gram 1 year and 1 month - 2.652
HPV PCR
T. vaginalis Fresh examination
Didelot-rousseau, et al. 2006 [31]. Bobo-Dioulasso Cross-sectional HPV PCR - 16-54 379
Ng´andwe, et al. 2007 [32] Zambia Cohort HPV PCR 1 year and 1 month 15-38 70
sha 2007 [16] USA Cohort BV Nugent criteria 1 years and 1 month - 2.628
Candida sp. Smear with potassium hydroxide (KOH)
T. vaginalis Fresh examination
Singh, et al. 2009 [33] Rwanda Cohort HPV PCR 6 months >25 936
Desruisseau, et al. 2010 [35] Camaroon Cross-sectional HPV PCR 10 years and 11 months >18 65
Djigma, et al. 2011 [34] Burkina Faso Cohort Mycoplasma sp. PCR 6 months 27-45 451
Candida sp. Culture
N. gonorrhoeae  
Nowark, et al. 2011 [45]. Zimbabue Cohort HSV-2 ELISA 4 years and 2 months 28-35 641
BV AMSEL CRITERIA
HPV PCR
N. gonorrhoeae  
Chlamydia trachomatis  
Gallo, et al. 2011 [40] USA Cohort BV Nugent criteria 2 years 16-55 1364
Oliveira, et al. 2011 [17] Brazil Cross- sectional Candida sp. Culture 1 year >18 140
Chiduo, et al. 2012 [30] Tanzania Cohort Candida sp. Gram 2 years >18 205
Treponema pallidum Serology
T. vaginalis Fresh examination PCR
Chlamydia trachomatis  
Blitz, et al. 2013 [36] Canada Cohort HPV PCR 9 years 15-44 923
Hu, et al. 2013 [18] USA Cohort Candida sp. Culture                  4 years and 5 months >18 24
Apalata, et al. 2014 [20] South Africa Cohort HSV-2 PCR 7 months >18 198
Mycoplasma sp. Culture
Candida sp. PCR
N. gonorrhoeae  
T. vaginalis  
Chlamydia trachomatis  
Benning, et al. 2014 [41] USA and Rwandan Cohort N. gonorrhoeae Sequencing 1 years and 10 months 33-51 86
Mackelprang, et al. 2015 [43] USA Cross-sectional BV Nugent criteria - - 372
Masson, et al. 2015 [42] South Africa Cross-sectional HSV-2 ELISA - 18-59 265
BV Nugent criteria
Mycoplasma sp. PCR
N. gonorrhoeae Quick test
Treponema pallidum PCR
T. vaginalis  
Chlamydia trachomatis  
Alczuk, et al. 2015 [15] Unganda Cohort Candida sp. Culture 4 years and 2 months 18-35 641
Massad, et al. 2016 [37] USA Cohort HPV PCR 8 years >18 3438
Reimers, et al. 2016 [38] USA Cohort HPV PCR 8 years >18 64
Kriek, et al. 2016 [46] South Africa Cohort HPV PCR 6 months 28-42 165
Mycoplasma sp.
N. gonorrhoeae
T. vaginalis
Chlamydia trachomatis
Alcaide, et al. 2016 [14] USA Cross-sectional BV Nugent criteria 8 months 18-45 34