Fig. 4: Association between the vaginal microbiome, sialidase activity and leukocyte presence with birth outcome.

a Stacked bar plots showing proportion of Lactobacillus abundance (deplete, red; or dominant, blue), vaginal microbiome groups (VMG), sialidase activity (high, pink; or low, red) and leukocyte low (grades I-II, green) or high (grades III-IV, red) in preterm and term groups. Statistical significance based on Fisher’s Exact Test. b Boxplots showing birth gestation in weeks grouped by Lactobacillus abundance, sialidase activity, and leukocyte presence or absence with dot points colored by VMG. The bounds of the box represent the first and third quartiles, center line represents the median, and whiskers show min-to-max values. No significant difference between boxplots with n ≥ 3 based on Kruskal-Wallis Test, p > 0.05.