Fig. 2: Vaginal metabolites associate with subsequent preterm delivery.
From: Preterm birth is associated with xenobiotics and predicted by the vaginal metabolome
a, Heat map showing statistically significant associations (two-sided Mann–Whitney P < 0.05) between specific metabolite measurements and birth outcomes, stratified by maternal race, and coloured by significance and direction of association. Only metabolites with at least one association with FDR <0.1 are shown. Metabolites are sorted by their average signed (direction of fold change) log P value. b, Box and swarm plots (line, median; box, IQR; whiskers, 1.5× IQR) of three metabolites with significant associations with sPTB. P, two-sided Mann–Whitney U. c, Illustration summarizing some of the literature regarding the three metabolites shown in b. DEA, which is associated with sPTB, was shown to inhibit choline uptake41. Choline and betaine, both associated with TB, are important for membrane lipid synthesis and osmoregulation38,40. d, Same as a, with stratification by GAB, performed among Black women. Middle legend applies to a and d; NS, not significant; q < 0.1 indicated by bright colours (legend).
