Exploring profile and potential influencers of vaginal microbiome among asymptomatic pregnant Chinese women

Yining He; Yun Huang; Zhengyin Zhang; Fengping Yu; Yingjie Zheng

doi:10.7717/peerj.8172

Exploring profile and potential influencers of vaginal microbiome among asymptomatic pregnant Chinese women

PeerJ. 2019 Dec 10:7:e8172. doi: 10.7717/peerj.8172. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Yining He¹, Yun Huang², Zhengyin Zhang², Fengping Yu³, Yingjie Zheng^{1

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Affiliations

¹ Department of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Clinical Laboratory, Shanghai Punan Hospital of Pudong New District, Shanghai, China.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai Punan Hospital of Pudong New District, Shanghai, China.
⁴ Key Laboratory of Health Technology Assessment, National Health Commission (Fudan University), Shanghai, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Public Health Safety, Ministry of Education, School of Public Health, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: This study was designed to explore the profile and potential influencers of the vaginal microbiome (VMB) among asymptomatic pregnant Chinese women and its possible association with pregnancy outcomes.

Methods: A prospective study was conducted among pregnant Chinese women receiving regular prenatal care at a hospital in Shanghai, China from March 2017 to March 2018. Vaginal swabs were obtained from 113 asymptomatic pregnant women in mid-pregnancy and sequenced by the V3-V4 region of 16S rRNA on an Ion S5™ XL platform. Demographic characteristics and major pregnancy outcomes were collected through questionnaires and electronic medical records.

Results: The predominant vaginal community state types (CSTs) were CST I (45.1%) and CST III (31.9%). Participants were divided into a lactobacilli-dominant group (LD, CST I/II/III/I-III/V, n = 100, 88.5%) and a less lactobacilli-dominant group (LLD, CST IV-A/B, n = 13, 11.5%). Women in the LLD group showed an increased alpha diversity [median (interquartile range, IQR): 2.41 (1.67, 2.49) vs. 0.30 (0.17, 0.59), P < 0.001], which was related to a lower pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI) (P = 0.012), and a greater instance of passive smoking (P = 0.033). The relative abundance of Lactobacillus was correlated positively with the pre-pregnancy BMI (r = 0.177, P = 0.041), but negatively with passive smoking (r = - 0.204, P = 0.030).

Conclusion: The vaginal flora of asymptomatic pregnant Chinese women was mostly dominated by Lactobacillus crispatus and L. iners. A lower BMI and greater instance of passive smoking may contribute to a less lactobacilli-dominant VMB. However, a larger sample size is needed.

Keywords: Body mass index; Passive smoking; Pregnant women; Vaginal cleanliness; Vaginal microbiome.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (81373065, 81773490), the National Key Research and Development program of China (2017YFC1200203), and the Fourth Round of Three-year Action Plan and Key Discipline Program on Public Health System Construction of Shanghai (15GWZK0202). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.