{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,15]],"date-time":"2026-10-15T21:25:49Z","timestamp":1792099549928,"version":"4.4.0"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"Public Library of Science (PLoS)","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,29]],"date-time":"2023-11-29T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1701216000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100006492","name":"Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["R21AI113439"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["R21AI113439"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100006492","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000062","name":"National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["DK043351"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["DK043351"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000062","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"Domolky Innovation Award"},{"name":"Center for Microbiome Informatics and Therapeutics Flagship Project"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["www.plosone.org"],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["PLoS ONE"],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"sec001\">\n<jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The gut microbiota in patients with inflammatory bowel disease are perturbed in both composition and function. The vaginal microbiome and its role in the reproductive health of women with inflammatory bowel disease is less well described.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec002\">\n<jats:title>Objective<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>We aim to compare the vaginal microbiota of women with inflammatory bowel disease to healthy controls.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec003\">\n<jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Women with inflammatory bowel disease enrolled in a longitudinal cohort study provided self-collected vaginal swabs. Healthy controls underwent provider-collected vaginal swabs at routine gynecologic exams. All participants completed surveys on health history, vulvovaginal symptoms and gastrointestinal symptoms, if applicable. Microbiota were characterized by sequencing the V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene. Associations between patient characteristics and microbial community composition were evaluated by PERMANOVA and Principal Components Analysis. <jats:italic>Lactobacillus<\/jats:italic> dominance of the microbial community was compared between groups using chi-square and Poisson regression.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec004\">\n<jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>The cohort included 54 women with inflammatory bowel disease (25 Ulcerative colitis, 25 Crohn\u2019s Disease) and 26 controls. A majority, 72 (90%) were White; 17 (31%) with inflammatory bowel disease and 7 (27%) controls were postmenopausal. The composition of the vaginal microbiota did not vary significantly by diagnosis or severity of inflammatory bowel disease but did vary by menopausal status (p = 0.042). There were no significant differences in Shannon Diversity Index between healthy controls and women with IBD in premenopausal participants. There was no difference in proportion of <jats:italic>Lactobacillus<\/jats:italic> dominance according to diagnosis in premenopausal participants. A subgroup of postmenopausal women with Ulcerative colitis showed a significant higher alpha diversity and a lack of <jats:italic>Lactobacillus<\/jats:italic> dominance in the vaginal microbiome.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"sec005\">\n<jats:title>Conclusions<\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Menopausal status had a larger impact on vaginal microbial communities than inflammatory bowel disease diagnosis or severity.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0284709","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,29]],"date-time":"2023-11-29T18:33:51Z","timestamp":1701282831000},"page":"e0284709","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1371\/journal.pone.corrections_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Comparison of vaginal microbiota between women with inflammatory bowel disease and healthy controls"],"prefix":"10.1371","volume":"18","author":[{"given":"Ofri","family":"Bar","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Leanna S.","family":"Sudhof","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Laura J.","family":"Yockey","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Agnes","family":"Bergerat","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nadav","family":"Moriel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Elizabeth","family":"Andrews","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ashwin N.","family":"Ananthakrishnan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ramnik J.","family":"Xavier","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-7344-5188","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Moran","family":"Yassour","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9924-2349","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Caroline M.","family":"Mitchell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"340","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,11,29]]},"reference":[{"issue":"10114","key":"pone.0284709.ref001","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2769","DOI":"10.1016\/S0140-6736(17)32448-0","article-title":"Worldwide incidence and prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease in the 21st century: a systematic review of population-based studies","volume":"390","author":"SC Ng","year":"2017","journal-title":"Lancet. 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