Population-level analyses identify host and environmental variables influencing the vaginal microbiome

The vaginal microbiome is critical for the reproductive health of women, yet the differential impacts exerted by the host and by ambient environmental variables on the vaginal microbiome remain largely unknown. Here, we conducted a comprehensive cross-sectional study of the relationships between the vaginal microbiome and 81 matched host and environmental variables across 6755 Chinese women. By 16S rRNA sequencing, we identified four core vaginal microbiota with a prevalence of over 90% and a total median abundance of 98.8%. Twenty-four variables, including physiology, lifestyle behaviors, gynecologic history, social and environmental information, were found associated with the microbiome composition, of which bacterial vaginosis (BV) showed the largest effect size. Age was among the strongest explanatory variables and the vaginal microbiome dynamically succeeded with increasing age, especially with a composition turning point at the age of 45. Our mediation analyses indicated that the effects of age on the microbiome could be mediated by variables such as parity number and lifestyles. We further classified the vaginal microbiomes of the population into 13 "Vagitypes". Women with Lactobacillus iners- and Lactobacillus jensenii-dominated Vagitypes had significantly higher live birth rate than those with Vagitype dominated by Fannyhessea vaginae (53.40%, 59.09% vs 21.43%; OR [95% CI]: 3.62 [1.12-14.87], 5.39 [1.27-27.36]; P = 0.031, P = 0.021). This study provides a comprehensive overview of the associations between identified variables and the vaginal microbiome, representing an important step toward understanding of environment-microbe-host interactions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy
Published
2025-02-18
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-025-02152-8
Citations
13
Primary Topic
Reproductive tract infections research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
15.38

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article

Population-level analyses identify host and environmental variables influencing the vaginal microbiome

Jiaojiao Wang, Lei Xie, Shigang Zhao, Lijuan Zhao et al.
13 citations
Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy
Reproductive tract infections research
15.38
article

Population-level analyses identify host and environmental variables influencing the vaginal microbiome

Jiaojiao Wang, Lei Xie, Shigang Zhao, Lijuan Zhao, Zhenzhen Zhang, Xuan Gao, Congcong Jin, Lang Qin, Yuzhen Huang, Yongzhi Cao, Zhina Yao, Ling Geng, Qian Yu, Shengrui Zhao, Qiang Feng, Tianyong Sun, Yanqi Xu, Changlong Zhang, Jialun Song, Lei Yan, Xiao Li, Yanan Zhang, Zheng Liu, Fangfang Zhang, Feifei Liu, Yanjun Liu, Fang Cao, Jing Zhang, Yuping Song, Honglei Chen, Xiuqing Zhang, Han Zhao, Ting Han, Yousheng Zhang, Zi‐Jiang Chen, Yuhan Feng
article en
13 citations

Abstract

The vaginal microbiome is critical for the reproductive health of women, yet the differential impacts exerted by the host and by ambient environmental variables on the vaginal microbiome remain largely unknown. Here, we conducted a comprehensive cross-sectional study of the relationships between the vaginal microbiome and 81 matched host and environmental variables across 6755 Chinese women. By 16S rRNA sequencing, we identified four core vaginal microbiota with a prevalence of over 90% and a total median abundance of 98.8%. Twenty-four variables, including physiology, lifestyle behaviors, gynecologic history, social and environmental information, were found associated with the microbiome composition, of which bacterial vaginosis (BV) showed the largest effect size. Age was among the strongest explanatory variables and the vaginal microbiome dynamically succeeded with increasing age, especially with a composition turning point at the age of 45. Our mediation analyses indicated that the effects of age on the microbiome could be mediated by variables such as parity number and lifestyles. We further classified the vaginal microbiomes of the population into 13 "Vagitypes". Women with Lactobacillus iners- and Lactobacillus jensenii-dominated Vagitypes had significantly higher live birth rate than those with Vagitype dominated by Fannyhessea vaginae (53.40%, 59.09% vs 21.43%; OR [95% CI]: 3.62 [1.12-14.87], 5.39 [1.27-27.36]; P = 0.031, P = 0.021). This study provides a comprehensive overview of the associations between identified variables and the vaginal microbiome, representing an important step toward understanding of environment-microbe-host interactions.

Signal Transduction and Targeted TherapyVol. 10(1)
Shandong University (CN), Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN), Wenzhou Medical University (CN), Renji Hospital (CN), First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University (CN), Linyi People's Hospital (CN), Shandong Provincial Hospital (CN), Institut de Médecine de la Reproduction (FR), Shandong First Medical University (CN), Shandong University of Science and Technology (CN)
Shandong University, National Natural Science Foundation of China, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 1%
Reproductive tract infections research
15.38
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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