Dataset Information

Vaginal microbiota and genitourinary menopausal symptoms: a cross-sectional analysis.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:To examine associations between the composition of the vaginal microbiota and genitourinary menopausal symptoms, serum estrogen, and vaginal glycogen. METHODS:For this cross-sectional study, 88 women aged 40 to 62 years, enrolled in a hot flash treatment trial, provided vaginal swabs and a blood sample at enrollment. Bacterial communities were characterized using 16S rRNA PCR and deep sequencing targeting the V3-V4 region. Quantities of Lactobacillus crispatus and Lactobacillus iners were measured using qPCR. Self-reported genitourinary symptoms included: presence and severity of individual symptoms and identification of most bothersome symptom. Glycogen was measured fluorometrically in swab eluate. Serum estradiol (E2) and estrone (E1) were measured by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. Associations between bacteria, symptoms, glycogen, and serum estrogens were tested by linear regression or Wilcoxon signed-rank test, adjusted for multiple comparisons. Comparisons between groups used Kruskall-Wallis or Fisher's exact test. RESULTS:Of the 88 women, 33 (38%) had a majority of Lactobacillus species, whereas 58 (66%) had any Lactobacillus detected. Over half (53%) reported at least one vulvovaginal symptom (most commonly dryness), but symptoms were not associated with the presence of Lactobacillus species. Women with Lactobacillus-dominant communities had higher unconjugated serum estrone, but no difference in vaginal glycogen levels, compared with those with non-Lactobacillus-dominant communities. Higher serum E2 and E1 were not associated with either higher vaginal glycogen or detection of individual genera. CONCLUSIONS:Presence of Lactobacillus-dominant vaginal microbiota was not associated with fewer vulvovaginal symptoms. Serum estrone was higher in women with Lactobacillus dominance, but vaginal-free glycogen was not associated with composition of the vaginal microbiota.

SUBMITTER: Mitchell CM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5607086 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Vaginal microbiota and genitourinary menopausal symptoms: a cross-sectional analysis.

Mitchell Caroline M CM Srinivasan Sujatha S Zhan Xiang X Wu Michael C MC Reed Susan D SD Guthrie Katherine A KA LaCroix Andrea Z AZ Fiedler Tina T Munch Matthew M Liu Congzhou C Hoffman Noah G NG Blair Ian A IA Newton Katherine K Freeman Ellen W EW Joffe Hadine H Cohen Lee L Fredricks David N DN

Menopause (New York, N.Y.) 20171001 10

<h4>Objective</h4>To examine associations between the composition of the vaginal microbiota and genitourinary menopausal symptoms, serum estrogen, and vaginal glycogen.<h4>Methods</h4>For this cross-sectional study, 88 women aged 40 to 62 years, enrolled in a hot flash treatment trial, provided vaginal swabs and a blood sample at enrollment. Bacterial communities were characterized using 16S rRNA PCR and deep sequencing targeting the V3-V4 region. Quantities of Lactobacillus crispatus and Lactob ...[more]

PMID: 28640154

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Project description:Genitourinary syndrome of menopause (GSM) is a chronic and progressive condition with a series of vulvovaginal, sexual, and lower urinary tract discomforts, mainly due to hypoestrogenism. Menopausal hormone therapy (MHT) has generally been considered as the most effective treatment for GSM. In addition, vaginal microbiota is of particular significance to gynecological and reproductive illnesses and potentially has some intimate connections with GSM. Consequently, we sought to evaluate how MHT impacts the composition and structure of vaginal microbiota while alleviating GSM in Chinese menopausal women aged 45-65 years, which has not been investigated previously. 16S rRNA gene sequencing was performed to analyze microbial diversity and composition using vaginal swabs obtained from 100 menopausal women, classified as MHT women who have been taking tibolone regularly (n = 50) and non-treated women who never received any treatment (n = 50). Vaginal Health Index Score (VHIS) and GSM symptoms inquiry were also performed. We found that the vaginal microbial diversity decreased and that the abundance of Lactobacillus increased to be the dominant proportion significantly in the MHT group, in considerable contrast to vaginal microbiota of the non-treated group, which significantly comprised several anaerobic bacteria, namely, Gardnerella, Prevotella, Escherichia-Shigella, Streptococcus, Atopobium, Aerococcus, Anaerotruncus, and Anaerococcus. In this study, women without any MHT had significantly more severe GSM symptoms than those receiving tibolone, especially with regard to vulvovaginal dryness and burning, as well as decreased libido (P < 0.01). However, there was no significant difference in the severity of urological symptoms between the groups (P > 0.05). Furthermore, Lactobacillus was demonstrated to be associated with VHIS positively (r = 0.626, P < 0.001) and with GSM negatively (r = -0.347, P < 0.001). We also identified Chlamydia (r = 0.277, P < 0.01) and Streptococcus (r = 0.270, P < 0.01) as having a prominent association with more serious GSM symptoms. Our study provided an elucidation that MHT could notably alleviate GSM and conspicuously reshape the composition of the vaginal microbiota, which is of extreme importance to clinical practice for the management of GSM.

Project description:ObjectiveCharacterise the vaginal metabolome of cervical HPV-infected and uninfected women.DesignCross-sectional.SettingThe Center for Health Behavior Research at the University of Maryland School of Public Health.SampleThirty-nine participants, 13 categorised as HPV-negative and 26 as HPV-positive (any genotype; HPV+ ), 14 of whom were positive with at least one high-risk HPV strain (hrHPV).MethodSelf-collected mid-vaginal swabs were profiled for bacterial composition by 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing, metabolites by both gas and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, and 37 types of HPV DNA.Main outcome measuresMetabolite abundances.ResultsVaginal microbiota clustered into Community State Type (CST) I (Lactobacillus crispatus-dominated), CST III (Lactobacillus iners-dominated), and CST IV (low-Lactobacillus, 'molecular-BV'). HPV+ women had higher biogenic amine and phospholipid concentrations compared with HPV- women after adjustment for CST and cigarette smoking. Metabolomic profiles of HPV+ and HPV- women differed in strata of CST. In CST III, there were higher concentrations of biogenic amines and glycogen-related metabolites in HPV+ women than in HPV- women. In CST IV, there were lower concentrations of glutathione, glycogen, and phospholipid-related metabolites in HPV+ participants than in HPV- participants. Across all CSTs, women with hrHPV strains had lower concentrations of amino acids, lipids, and peptides compared with women who had only low-risk HPV (lrHPV).ConclusionsThe vaginal metabolome of HPV+ women differed from HPV- women in terms of several metabolites, including biogenic amines, glutathione, and lipid-related metabolites. If the temporal relation between increased levels of reduced glutathione and oxidised glutathione and HPV incidence/persistence is confirmed in future studies, anti-oxidant therapies may be considered as a non-surgical HPV control intervention.Tweetable abstractMetabolomics study: Vaginal microenvironment of HPV+ women may be informative for non-surgical interventions.

Project description:Recent studies suggest that birth mode (Cesarean section [C-section] or vaginal delivery) is an important event in the initial colonization of the human microbiome and may be associated with long-term health outcomes. We sought to determine the association between a woman's birth mode and her vaginal microbiota in adulthood. We re-contacted 144 adult women from two U.S. studies and administered a brief survey. Vaginal microbiota was characterized on a single sample by amplicon sequencing of the V3-V4 hypervariable regions of the 16S rRNA gene and clustered into community state types (CSTs). We evaluated the association between birth mode and a CST with low relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp. ("molecular bacterial vaginosis" [Molecular-BV]) compared to Lactobacillus-dominated CSTs in logistic regression modeling which adjusted for body mass index, a confounder in this analysis. Twenty-seven women (19%) reported C-section. Overall, C-section showed a non-significant trend towards increased odds of Molecular-BV (aOR = 1.22, 95% CI: 0.45, 3.32), and Prevotella bivia was the strongest single taxa associated with C-section. However, because the two archived studies had different inclusion criteria (interaction p = 0.048), we stratified the analysis by study site. In the study with a larger sample size (n = 88), women born by C-section had 3-fold higher odds of Molecular-BV compared to vaginally-delivered women (aOR = 3.55, p = 0.06, 95% CI: 0.97-13.02). No association was found in the smaller study (n = 56, aOR = 0.19, p = 0.14, 95% CI: 0.02-1.71). This pilot cross-sectional study suggests a possible association between C-section and Molecular-BV in adulthood. However, the analysis is limited by small sample size and lack of comparability in participant age and other characteristics between the study sites. Future longitudinal studies could recruit larger samples of women, address the temporal dynamics of vaginal microbiota, and explore other confounders, including maternal factors, breastfeeding history, and socioeconomic status, which may affect the relationship between birth mode and vaginal microbiota.

Project description:Owing to hormonal changes, women experience various psychophysiological alterations over a wide age range, which may result in decreased quality of life as well as in increased risks of diseases, such as cardiovascular diseases. Although studies have been performed to research complementary methods, such as meditation, the research field still requires an adequate amount of studies for public health guidelines. This pilot cross-sectional study aims to investigate a potential association of meditation with menopausal symptoms and blood chemistry for healthy women. In this study, data of 65 healthy women (age range 25-67) including 33 meditation practitioners and 32 meditation-naïve controls were analyzed to compare the Menopausal Rating Scale scores and blood chemistry with 7 more dropouts in the blood chemistry. For blood chemistry, nine components including glucose (GLU) and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL) were measured. Two-way analysis of variance was performed by dividing the total participants into 2 groups: premenopausal and postmenopausal participants. Compared to the control group, the meditation group showed a trend of reductions in the Menopausal Rating Scale total score (P = .054) and its 2 subcomponents: depressive mood (P = .064) and irritability (P = .061). In HDL level, there was a significant interaction between group and menopausal state (P = .039) with following post hoc results: among the premenopausal participants, a significant increase in the meditation group compared to the control group (P = .005); among the control group, a significant increase in the postmenopausal compared to the premenopausal participants (P = .030). In GLU level, there was a mild interaction between group and menopausal state (P = .070) with following post hoc results: among the postmenopausal participants, a trend of increase in the control group compared to the meditation group (P = .081); among the control group, a significant increase in the postmenopausal compared to the premenopausal participants (P = .040). Our research suggests a potential association of practicing meditation with alleviations in menopausal symptoms and changes in blood chemistry, warranting further studies with a longitudinal study design and larger populations to understand the underlying causal relationships.

Project description:BackgroundThe female genital tract is an important bacterial habitat of the human body, and vaginal microbiota plays a crucial role in vaginal health. The alteration of vaginal microbiota affects millions of women annually, and is associated with numerous adverse health outcomes, including human papillomavirus (HPV) infection. However, previous studies have primarily focused on the association between bacterial vaginosis and HPV infection. Little is known about the composition of vaginal microbial communities involved in HPV acquisition. The present study was performed to investigate whether HPV infection was associated with the diversity and composition of vaginal microbiota.MethodsA total of 70 healthy women (32 HPV-negative and 38 HPV-positive) with normal cervical cytology were enrolled in this study. Culture-independent polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis was used to measure the diversity and composition of vaginal microbiota of all subjects.ResultsWe found significantly greater biological diversity in the vaginal microbiota of HPV-positive women (p?<?0.001). Lactobacillus, including L. gallinarum, L. iners and L. gasseri, was the predominant genus and was detected in all women. No significant difference between HPV-positive and HPV-negative women was found for the frequency of detection of L. gallinarum (p?=?0.775) or L. iners (p?=?0.717), but L. gasseri was found at a significantly higher frequency in HPV-positive women (p?=?0.005). Gardnerella vaginalis was also found at a significantly higher frequency in HPV-positive women (p?=?0.031). Dendrograms revealed that vaginal microbiota from the two groups had different profiles.ConclusionsOur study is the first systematic evaluation of an association between vaginal microbiota and HPV infection, and we have demonstrated that compared with HPV-negative women, the bacterial diversity of HPV-positive women is more complex and the composition of vaginal microbiota is different.

Dataset Information

Vaginal microbiota and genitourinary menopausal symptoms: a cross-sectional analysis.

Publications

Vaginal microbiota and genitourinary menopausal symptoms: a cross-sectional analysis.

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