Vaginal and rectal microbiome changes following administration of a multi-species antenatal probiotic: A randomized control trial

ABSTRACT

The gut and vaginal microbiome undergo changes during pregnancy which may be protective or harmful to the birthing person. Probiotics have been found to cause protective changes to the gut and vaginal microbiomes, with the potential to improve perinatal outcomes. This randomized control trial compares the vaginal and rectal microbiomes before and after an antenatal probiotic or placebo intervention, with a diverse group of pregnant people and a special focus on racial disparities. The vaginal and rectal microbiomes reveal non-significant increased Lactobacillus in the probiotics group, with a greater increase in participants who identified as Black. Potential implications and future studies are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Pregnancy
• probiotics
• group B Streptococcus
• vaginal microbiome
• racial disparities

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Diana Kleber, RN, the research coordinator for her work during the trial.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Conceptualization, L.H. and N.S.; methodology, L.H. and N.S.; formal analysis, A.K., J.D., C.R.; investigation, L.H., N.S. and E.M.; data curation, A.K. writing – original draft preparation, E.M. and A.K.; writing – review and editing, E.M., A.K., L.H., C.R.; supervision, L.H. and N.S.; project administration, L.H., N.S., E.M., funding acquisition, L.H., and N.S. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Data availability statement

Data openly available at SRA at NCBI under the accession number PRJNA1039832. Link will be available on release date of: 2024-05-01 at https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sra/PRJNA1039832

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/29933935.2024.2334311

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [R21HD095320].