Correlations of joint detection of 22 vaginal microbes with routine examination results of vaginal secretions and assisted reproductive outcomes

Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis. 2023 Jun;106(2):115940. doi: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2023.115940. Epub 2023 Mar 12.

Abstract

The correlations of joint detection of 22 vaginal microbes with routine examination results of vaginal secretions and assisted reproductive outcomes were investigated. There were 37 samples with abnormal vaginal microecology in 107 vaginal secretion samples. The top 5 detection rates of microorganisms were Ureaplasma urealyticum (73.83%), Prevotella sp. (70.09%), Gardnerella vaginalis (53.27%), L. crispatus (52.34%) and L. inerts (51.40%). When the levels of Bacillus and hydrogen peroxide in vaginal secretions decreased or pH increased, the abnormal rates of vaginal microecology increased significantly (P < 0.01). The clinical pregnancy rate (53.66%, 22/41) in the women with normal vaginal microecology was higher than that (37.5%, 9/24) with abnormal vaginal microecology. In conclusions, the joint detection of 22 vaginal microbes can quickly and effectively determine whether the vaginal microecology is normal or not. The evaluation of vaginal microecology may be valuable in predicting the assisted reproductive outcomes of infertile women.

Keywords: Assisted reproduction; Infertility; Multiplex quantitative fluorescent polymerase chain reaction; Vaginal microecology.

MeSH terms

  • Female
  • Gardnerella vaginalis
  • Humans
  • Infertility, Female*
  • Pregnancy
  • Vagina