Relationship of Lactobacillus Vaginal Microbiota Changes and the Risk of Preterm Birth: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Objective: With a global incidence of more than 10%, preterm birth (PTB) remains a significant concern. The vaginal microbiome strongly influences the well-being of the female reproductive tract. This study examines the correlation between changes in Lactobacillus vaginal microbiota and the PTB risk. Materials and Methods: A thorough search of PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and EMBASE was conducted to locate studies that examined the association between changes in Lactobacillus vaginal microbiota and the risk of PTB from January 1, 2010, to January 30, 2023. The risk of PTB was determined by calculating odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: In our analysis, there were 11 studies with 1577 pregnant women. The findings revealed a significant negative correlation between higher Lactobacillus abundance and the PTB risk (OR = 0.49, 95% CI: 0.29-0.84, p = 0.009 < 0.05). Similarly, the four individual dominant species, Lactobacillus crispatus (OR = 0.3, 95% CI: 0.14-0.67, p = 0.003 < 0.05), Lactobacillus gasseri (OR = 0.34, 95% CI: 0.17-0.69, p = 0.003 < 0.05), Lactobacillus iners (OR = 0.68, 95% CI: 0.49-0.93, p = 0.016 < 0.05), and Lactobacillus jensenii (OR = 0.43, 95% CI: 0.21-0.89, p = 0.024 < 0.05), were also negatively associated with the PTB risk. The risk of Lactobacillus for PTB was significant in both America (OR = 0.67; 95% CI: 0.50-0.92) and Asia (OR = 0.20; 95% CI: 0.09-0.47), whereas no significant risk was found in Europe (OR = 0.49; 95% CI: 0.11-2.15). Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that the abundance of Lactobacillus and the four dominant individual species (L. crispatus, L. jensenii, L. iners, and L. gasseri) were significantly and negatively associated with the PTB risk.