Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of labial adhesion in girls aged 6–72 months who attended routine pediatric follow-up visits and to describe associated clinical features.
Methods: This is a retrospective study that included 500 girls aged 6–72 months who were followed at a private pediatric clinic in Güzelbahçe, İzmir, between 2021 and 2024. Retrospective review was done for age, presence and type of labial adhesion, atopic skin disease, diaper dermatitis, urinary tract infection (UTI) history, toilet training status, family history, place of residence, and maternal education. Variables were accounted by adjusting the mean by adding or subtracting the standard deviation. Group comparisons were performed using Welch’s t test, Pearson’s chi-square test, or Fisher’s exact test for categorical variables..
Results: Labial adhesion was identified in 22 of 500 girls, giving a prevalence of 4.4%. Nineteen cases (3.8%) were partial adhesions and three (0.6%) were complete adhesions. The mean age was 36.7 ± 15.2 months in the adhesion group and 38.7 ± 16.5 months in the non-adhesion group (p = 0.554). Histories of atopic skin disease, diaper dermatitis, UTI, and toilet training status did not differ significantly between groups (all p > 0.05). Among girls with labial adhesion, 54.5% were still using diapers, 81.8% lived in urban areas, and 63.7% had mothers with high school educational levels.
Conclusion: Labial adhesion was detected in 4.4% of girls attending routine pediatric visits in this cohort. Most cases were partial and were recognized during routine examination rather than because of symptoms. These findings support careful genital examination during well-child visits and suggest that larger multicenter studies are needed to clarify which clinical factors are independently associated with labial adhesion.

Key words: labial adhesion; labial synechiae; prepubertal girls; prevalence; genital examination; well-child visit