{"doi":"10.1002/oby.23306","title":"The vaginal microbiome in women of reproductive age with healthy weight versus overweight/obesity","abstract":"Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the differences between the vaginal microbiome of reproductive‐aged women with overweight and obesity (Ow/Ob) compared with healthy weight (HW). Methods In this case‐control study, a cohort of 367 nonpregnant women (18 to 40 years) with Ow/Ob (BMI ≥25 kg/m 2 ) was case‐matched with 367 women with HW (BMI 18.0 to 24.9 kg/m 2 ). The study was a secondary analysis of 16S rRNA vaginal microbiome surveys through the Vaginal Human Microbiome Study (VaHMP). Groups were matched on age, race/ethnicity, income, and nulliparity status. Results Mean age and BMI of Ow/Ob and HW groups were 26.8 versus 26.7 years and 37.0 versus 22.1 kg/m 2 , respectively. The overall vaginal microbiome composition differed between groups (PERMANOVA, p = 0.035). Women with Ow/Ob had higher alpha diversity compared with women with HW (Wilcoxon test, Shannon index p = 0.025; inverse Simpson index p = 0.026). Lactobacillus dominance (≥30% proportional abundance) was observed in a greater proportion of women with HW (48.7%) compared with Ow/Ob (40.1%; p = 0.026). Conclusions The vaginal microbiome differs in reproductive‐aged women with Ow/Ob compared with women with HW, with increased alpha diversity and decreased predominance of Lactobacillus . Observed differences in the vaginal microbiome may partially explain differences in preterm birth and bacterial vaginosis risk between these populations.","journal":"Obesity","year":2021,"id":159182,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":42,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.8934,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2021-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":670150,"name":"Laahirie Edupuganti","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":575769,"name":"David Edwards","orcid":"0000-0003-2964-8620","position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":575767,"name":"Nicole R. Jimenez","orcid":"0000-0001-9755-0022","position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":29050,"name":"Gregory A. Buck","orcid":"0000-0003-4621-3987","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":493779,"name":"Kimberly K. Jefferson","orcid":"0000-0003-1052-1988","position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":301374,"name":"Jerome F. Strauss","orcid":"0000-0001-6199-0480","position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":670151,"name":"Edmond P. Wickham","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":36379,"name":"Jennifer M. Fettweis","orcid":"0000-0001-5466-3000","position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":669445,"name":"Natalie G. Allen","orcid":"0000-0002-5515-1469","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":47,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:44:35.165422Z","pmid":"34806323","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}