{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,2]],"date-time":"2026-05-02T04:33:32Z","timestamp":1777696412931,"version":"3.51.4"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IDA"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,18]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>Polymicrobial syndromes such as Bacterial Vaginosis (BV), where there is a great diversity of microorganisms and causal connotations, turn it into a disease with complex dynamics in the bacteria\u2019s coexistence in groups of patients. The main aim of this study was to explore a dataset of patients with BV to determine a more informed number of groups to create for further analysis of bacteria\u2019s coexistence. The Agglomerative Hierarchical Clustering (AHC) algorithm was applied to a BV dataset from an urban population in southeastern Mexico consisting of 201 patient records with 59 patient attributes and three classes (BV-positive, BV-negative, BV-indeterminate). In the clustering results obtained, it is possible to identify different remarkable groups of patients. The most prevalent coexisting bacteria among patients with BV were Atopobium + Gardnerella vaginalis with 37.50%, Atopobium + Megasphaera with 15.68% in the first experiment. Whereas, in the second experiment, the coexisting bacteria were Atopobium + Megasphaera + Mycoplasma hominis with 33.33% and Atopobium + Gardnerella vaginalis + Mycoplasma hominis with 25%. Finally, we provided evidence that via the AHC algorithm, it was possible to identify an optimal number of clusters with high intra-similarity and inter-dissimilarity. Furthermore, this approach allowed us to create a clustering model that helps analyze the complex dynamics between bacteria in groups of patients with BV.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3233\/ida-216488","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,5,12]],"date-time":"2023-05-12T13:35:57Z","timestamp":1683898557000},"page":"583-611","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["An agglomerative hierarchical clustering approach to identify coexisting bacteria in groups of bacterial vaginosis patients"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"27","author":[{"given":"Henry Jes\u00fas","family":"Hern\u00e1ndez-G\u00f3mez","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Division of Sciences and Information Technologies, Juarez Autonomous University of Tabasco, Cunduac\u00e1n-Jalpa KM highway. 1 Col. The Esmeralda, Cunduac\u00e1n, Tabasco, Mexico"}]},{"given":"Juana","family":"Canul-Reich","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Division of Sciences and Information Technologies, Juarez Autonomous University of Tabasco, Cunduac\u00e1n-Jalpa KM highway. 1 Col. The Esmeralda, Cunduac\u00e1n, Tabasco, Mexico"}]},{"given":"Betania","family":"Hern\u00e1ndez-Oca\u00f1a","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Academic Division of Sciences and Information Technologies, Juarez Autonomous University of Tabasco, Cunduac\u00e1n-Jalpa KM highway. 1 Col. The Esmeralda, Cunduac\u00e1n, Tabasco, Mexico"}]},{"given":"Erick","family":"de la Cruz Hern\u00e1ndez","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Comalcalco Multidisciplinary Academic Division, Juarez Autonomous University of Tabasco, Rancher\u00eda South 4th. Section. 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