A Narrative Review of the Vulvar Disease Literature With Images of Women of Color
Gabriela Ashenafi, Ulrike C. Dehaeck, Nina A. Madnani, Ebony C. Parker-Featherstone, Natalie A. Saunders, Kathryn C. Welch, Arshpreet Kaur Mallhi, Hope K. HaefnerObjective
To assess the existing literature on vulvar disease in women of color (WOC).
Methods
A narrative review was conducted to assess the literature on vulvar disease in WOC and evaluate the presence of images in this population. The search encompassed PubMed and OVID using relevant terms related to vulvar conditions and various groups of WOC. Case reports, as well as posters were excluded. Books on this topic were searched using these two search engines and Google, as well as the Taubman Health Sciences Library at the University of Michigan. This library contains numerous books on vulvar diseases commonly used by health care providers.
Results
This query identified 24 journal publications on vulvar diseases in WOC. Twenty-six books, commonly used by health care providers, were found to have been published with vulvar images of WOC. However, only 1 focused specifically on vulvar diseases in WOC.
Conclusions
There is a notable scarcity of articles and books addressing vulvar conditions specifically in WOC. This gap in literature limits our understanding of how these conditions may uniquely affect this demographic population. Additional research and resources are essential to effectively represent and meet the health needs of WOC.