{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,22]],"date-time":"2026-09-22T15:34:16Z","timestamp":1790091256217,"version":"4.0.1"},"reference-count":28,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,7]],"date-time":"2024-09-07T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1725667200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Dutch Healthcare Authority","award":["EI-410"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["EI-410"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Microorganisms"],"abstract":"<jats:p>The composition of the vaginal microbiota prior to an IVF\/IVF-ICSI treatment can predict the chance of achieving a pregnancy. To improve clinical applicability and be more patient-friendly, the self-collection of vaginal samples would be preferable. However, the reliability of patient-collected samples compared to physician-collected samples remains unclear. This study compares microbiome outcomes from patient-collected versus physician-collected vaginal samples. This is a prospective pilot study consisting of two cohorts: Cohort I involved patient self-sampling of the vagina, followed by a physician-collected vaginal swab, while Cohort II involved the reversed order of collection. The interspace profiling (IS-Pro) technique was used to analyze the microbiota composition in all samples. From May 2021 to March 2022, a total of 444 samples were collected from n = 222 patients (aged 21\u201344 years), with Cohort I (n = 109) and Cohort II (n = 113). The vaginal microbiome composition of both cohorts was highly similar, regardless of the sampling order, with a mean cosine similarity of 0.93 (95% CI 0.91, 0.95) in Cohort I and 0.94 (95% CI 0.92, 0.96) in Cohort II. Furthermore, ANOVA analysis revealed no significant differences in bacterial species abundance between physician- and patient-collected samples, nor between first and second sample collections. The self-collection of vaginal samples can be considered comparable to physician-collected samples and indicates a more patient-friendly and convenient collection of the vaginal microbiome in an outpatient clinical setting.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/microorganisms12091859","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,9]],"date-time":"2024-09-09T03:04:18Z","timestamp":1725851058000},"page":"1859","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":4,"title":["The Vaginal Microbiome: Patient- versus Physician-Collected Microbial Swab: A Pilot Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6107-8272","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Xu Shan","family":"Gao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Thomas","family":"Groot","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"InBiome B.V., 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sam","family":"Schoenmakers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Obstetrics and Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-9048-7398","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yvonne","family":"Louwers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andries","family":"Budding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"InBiome B.V., 1098 XG Amsterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Joop","family":"Laven","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Erasmus University Medical Center, 3015 GD Rotterdam, The Netherlands"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,9,7]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Amabebe, E., and Anumba, D.O.C. 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