Vaginal Microbiome and Preterm Birth in Pregnant Women From India
Abhishek Singh, Karisma Chhabria, Neerja Vashist, Salomi Singh, Garima Suneja, Shradha Khater, Amrita Rao, Chandrasekar Arigela, Akib Kamani, Gautam Das, Atahar Husein, Anant Dattatray Urehekar, Sushil Kumar, Deepak ModiABSTRACT
Objective
Preterm birth (PTB) is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide, with India alone contributing nearly 27% of the global PTB burden. Although alterations in the vaginal microbiome have been implicated in PTB, its association in the Indian context is underexplored. This study aimed to investigate the association of the vaginal microbiome and PTB in Indian women at the time of delivery.
Study Design
The vaginal swabs were collected at the time of delivery from 72 women (31 term, 41 preterm) admitted to a tertiary care hospital in Western India. Microbial DNA was extracted, and the V3–V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene was sequenced. Community composition, alpha and beta diversity, and differential taxonomic abundance were assessed using bioinformatics pipelines.
Results
There were no significant differences in alpha or beta diversity between term and preterm groups. Principal coordinate and unsupervised clustering analyses showed no group‐wise segregation. The relative abundance of individual
Lactobacillus
species, including
Conclusion
This study found no major microbial shifts in the vaginal microbiome associated with preterm birth in this cross‐sectional cohort of Indian women, suggesting that vaginal dysbiosis at the time of delivery may not be a principal driver of PTB in this population. These findings underscore the need for larger, longitudinal, and ethnically diverse studies using standardized methodologies better to understand the microbiome's role in PTB risk.