Vaginal Microbiome of Women with Premature Ovarian Insufficiency -
Descriptive cross-sectional study
Abstract
Objective: To describe the vaginal microbiome of women with
premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) receiving systemic hormone therapy
(HT). Study design: Descriptive cross-sectional study.
Methods: Forty women with POI receiving systemic HT for at
least 6 months, were included in the study. Vaginal secretion was
collected for DNA extraction followed by Pyrosequencing of the 16S rRNA.
The samples were pooled into phylogenetic groups (Ravel – I, II, III,
IV, V). Results: Women had mean age of 37.13 (± 7.27) years and
POI diagnosis at 27.90 (± 8.68) years, a mean HT duration of 8.20 (±
8.73) years. It was observed that 33.4% of the women presented group I
flora, with a predominance of L. crispatus; 9% group II flora,
with a predominance of L. gasseri; 33.4% group III flora, with
predominance of L. iners; 15.2% group IV flora, with a
predominance of anaerobic bacteria; and 9% group V flora, with a
predominance of L. jensenii. Conclusion: Women with POI
receiving HT presented a vaginal microbiome with a predominance of
lactobacilli in the composition of the vaginal flora, specifically
L. crispatus and L. iners when evaluated by molecular
biology through the pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA.