Vaginal and Rectal microbiome changes following administration of a multi-species antenatal probiotic: A randomized control trial.

The gut and vaginal microbiome undergo changes during pregnancy which may be protective or harmful to the birthing person. Probiotics have been found to cause protective changes to the gut and vaginal microbiomes, with the potential to improve perinatal outcomes. This randomized control trial compares the vaginal and rectal microbiomes before and after an antenatal probiotic or placebo intervention, with a diverse group of pregnant people and a special focus on racial disparities. The vaginal and rectal microbiomes reveal non-significant increased Lactobacillus in the probiotics group, with a greater increase in participants who identified as Black. Potential implications and future study are discussed.
Competing Interests: The authors report no conflict of interest. American Lifeline, the makers of Florajen3, provided probiotic and placebo products for this study. The company had no input in the design, conduct of the study, analysis, or dissemination of the findings. Research reported in this publication was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health under award number R21HD095320. The study was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (Identifier: NCT03696953). The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Institutional Review Board of Marquette University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Aurora Health Care (protocol #17–136 on 20 February 2019). The contents do not represent the views of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the United States Government.