Fig. 2: Vaginal community clusters in a South African adolescent cohort. | Nature Communications

Fig. 2: Vaginal community clusters in a South African adolescent cohort.

From: Hormonal contraception alters vaginal microbiota and cytokines in South African adolescents in a randomized trial

Fig. 2

a Barplot depicting the relative abundance of the most abundant bacteria in the baseline samples identified by 16S rRNA microbiome profiling. Samples (n = 126) are grouped by community-state type (CST) established using soft k-means clustering with weighted UniFrac distances and ordered by the most abundant species in each CST (CST-I: L. crispatus, CST-III: L. iners, and CST-IV: G. vaginalis). Alpha diversity for each sample (Shannon Index) is depicted below the barplot. b–d Change in CST from baseline to crossover within study arms. Alluvial plot showing the change in CST distribution from baseline to crossover for matched participants randomized to one of the three study arms: b COC (n = 36), c Net-En (n = 32), and d CCVR (n = 34) in an intention-to-treat (ITT) analysis. Each line represents one adolescent and CST changes over time. The color of the line is based on the CST assigned at baseline. e–g Alpha diversity at baseline and crossover within study arms. Boxplot representing in alpha diversity (Shannon Index) of vaginal microbiota for matched participants at baseline and crossover randomized to one of the three study arms: e COC (n = 36), f Net-En (n = 32), and g CCVR (n = 34). h–j Alpha diversity within participants changing between hormonal contraceptive methods. Boxplots showing the alpha diverisity (Shannon Index) in h 62 vaginal samples from 29 participants changing from COC to Net-En or vice versa, i 52 vaginal samples from 26 participants changing from COC to CCVR or vice versa, and j 130 vaginal samples from 50 participants changing from Net-En to CCVR or vice versa. P values were generated using two-sided paired Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. Y axes are log10-transformed. Significance codes: *P < 0.05. Bounds of boxes show interquartile range (IQR) with the lower and upper hinges corresponding to the 25th and 75th percentiles, respectively, lines in the middle of the box indicate median, and top and bottom whiskers demonstrate value ranges within 1.5 × IQR from the hinge. Points beyond that are plotted individually. CCVR: combined contraceptive vaginal ring, COC: combined oral contraceptives. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.

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