Changes in the microbiome of vaginal fluid after menopause in Korean women.

Various microorganisms reside in the human vagina, and the vaginal microbiome is closely linked to both vaginal and general health. For this reason, microbiome studies of the vagina have been conducted. In this study, we analyzed the vaginal microbiome of women before and after menopause to further increase our understanding of the vaginal microbiome and its contribution to general health. We did a 16s rRNA gene-based metagenomic analysis on the vaginal fluids of 11 pre-menopausal and 19 post-menopausal women in Korea. We confirmed that the taxonomic composition was significantly different between the two groups. In post-menopausal women, species richness was significantly decreased, but species diversity was significantly increased. In particular, among the taxonomic components corresponding to all taxon ranks of the vaginal microbiome, a reduction in Lactobacillus taxa after menopause contributed the most to the difference between the two groups. In addition, we confirmed through metabolic analysis that the lactic-acid concentration was also decreased in the vaginal fluid of women after menopause. Our findings on the correlation between menopause and the microbiome could help diagnose menopause and preventing and treating diseases related to menopause.