Fig. 3: Cu-IUD use induces significant increases in the concentrations of several cervicovaginal bacteria and cytokines.

a Absolute 16S rRNA gene copy number assessed by broad-range qPCR at the study enrollment visit and after 6 months of the assigned contraceptive use. P values were calculated using a Student’s t test and corrected using the Benjamini and Hochberg method; Cu-IUD (n = 54); DMPA-IM (n = 44); LNG implant (n = 52). b Increases in absolute bacterial abundance after 6 months of Cu-IUD use. Only those taxa whose abundance remained significant after adjustment for multiple comparisons (Benjamini and Yekutieli) are shown. Data are presented as mean values +/− SEM. c The additive concentration of bacteria altered by Cu-IUD use correlates strongly with Nugent score. d The additive concentration of bacteria altered by Cu-IUD use correlates strongly with the concentration of several key cytokines after 6 months of contraceptive use. Two-tailed P values were derived from the t-value of the generalized linear model. Cytokine and bacterial concentrations were log₂ transformed prior to analysis. The class of cytokine is indicated above each subplot. Participant data points are colored by randomization arm and are from data collected after 6 months of contraceptive use. Boxplot center lines indicate the median, while the hinges indicate the first and third quartiles, and whiskers extend to 1.5 * IQR from the given hinge. Models with p < 0.05 after adjustment for multiple comparisons (Benjamini and Yekutieli) are shown. Regression lines are indicated in blue and the shaded regions around regression lines represent the 95% confidence interval.