Comparison of the Vaginal Microbiomes of Premenopausal and Postmenopausal Women.

ABSTRACT: For decades hormone therapy (HT) has been prescribed to treat the symptoms of menopause, such as vaginal dryness, itching and burning. Here we sought to compare the vaginal microbiomes of postmenopausal women who received low dose estrogen therapy to those of premenopausal and postmenopausal women, and to do so in conjunction with assessing the alleviation of symptoms associated with vaginal atrophy. In this study vaginal swab samples were obtained from 45 women who were classified as either premenopausal, postmenopausal, or postmenopausal and undergoing HT. The vaginal microbiomes of these women were characterized by 16S rRNA gene sequencing and bacterial abundances were quantified by qPCR. We found that the vaginal communities from our cohort could be divided into six clusters (A-

SUBMITTER: Gliniewicz K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6382698 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature