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Table 1 Sociodemographic, behavioral, and reproductive history correlates of VMB clusters

From: Correlates of the molecular vaginal microbiota composition of African women

Correlates

KRST-I n (%) N = 19

KRST-II n (%) N = 136

KRST-pIII-V n (%) N = 53

p value*

Sociodemographic characteristics at screening

    

Recruitment group:

    
 

Adult women, KE

9 (47.4)

60 (44.1)

21 (39.6)

0.69

 

Adolescent women, KE

1 (5.3)

14 (10.3)

4 (7.5)

 
 

Pregnant women, KE

3 (15.8)

9 (6.6)

2 (3.8)

 
 

Adult women, RSA

2 (10.5)

22 (16.2)

7 (13.2)

 
 

IVP users, RSA + TZ

2 (10.5)

10 (7.4)

8 (15.1)

 
 

HIV-positive and high risk women, RW

2 (10.5)

21 (15.4)

11 (20.8)

 

Country:

    
 

Kenya

13 (68.4)

83 (61.0)

27 (50.9)

0.69

 

RSA

2 (10.5)

22 (16.2)

8 (15.1)

 
 

Rwanda

2 (10.5)

21 (15.4)

11 (20.8)

 
 

Tanzania

2 (10.5)

10 (7.4)

7 (13.2)

 

Age (categorical):

    
 

16 -17 years

1 (5.3)

14 (10.3)

4 (7.5)

0.18

 

18 -24 years

3 (15.8)

50 (36.8)

20 (37.7)

 
 

25 -29 years

6 (31.6)

48 (35.3)

17 (32.1)

 
 

30 -35 years

9 (47.4)

24 (17.6)

12 (22.6)

 

Socio-economic status (composite)a:

    
 

Low

6 (31.6)

42 (30.9)

15 (28.3)

0.58

 

Medium

5 (26.3)

44 (32.4)

23 (43.4)

 
 

High

8 (42.1)

50 (36.8)

15 (28.3)

 

Sexual behavior

    

Sexual risk taking (composite)b:

    
 

Low

7 (36.8)

55 (40.4)

22 (41.5)

0.63

 

Medium

6 (31.6)

42 (30.9)

11 (20.8)

 
 

High

6 (31.6)

39 (28.7)

20 (37.7)

 

Self-acknowledged sex-worker:

    
 

No

16 (84.2)

115 (84.6)

43 (81.1)

0.88

 

Yes

3 (15.8)

21 (15.4)

10 (18.9)

 

Number of lifetime sexual partnersc:

    
 

One

7 (38.9)

29 (21.6)

10 (20.8)

0.55

 

Two to three

7 (38.9)

55 (41)

20 (41.7)

 
 

More than three

4 (22.2)

50 (37.3)

18 (37.5)

 

Number of sexual partners last 3 monthsd:

    
 

Zero

3 (15.8)

11 (8.2)

1 (1.9)

0.24

 

One

12 (63.2)

101 (75.4)

42 (79.2)

 
 

> One

4 (21.1)

22 (16.4)

10 (18.9)

 

Vaginal sex previous morning/eveninge:

    
 

No

18 (94.7)

97 (71.9)

40 (75.5)

0.09

 

Yes

1 (5.3)

38 (28.1)

13 (24.5)

 

Frequency of sex last 3 monthsf:

    
 

≤10 times

7 (50.0)

45 (38.8)

20 (42.6)

0.21

 

11 - 30 times

6 (42.9)

36 (31.0)

19 (40.4)

 
 

>30 times

1 (7.1)

35 (30.2)

8 (17.0)

 

Condom use last sexual contactf:

    
 

No

13 (81.2)

70 (60.3)

32 (68.1)

0.24

 

Yes

3 (18.8)

46 (39.7)

15 (31.9)

 

Freq of unprotected sex (last 3 months)g:

    
 

Never

0 (0.0)

36 (60.0)

12 (63.2)

0.06

 

<10 times

2 (40.0)

13 (21.7)

4 (21.1)

 
 

≥10 times

3 (60.0)

11 (18.3)

3 (15.8)

 

Put something in vagina to dry/tighten vagina before sex (enrollment)h

   
 

No

17 (100.0)

125 (99.2)

46 (100.0)

1.00

 

Yes

0 (0.0)

1 (0.8)

0 (0.0)

1.00

Clean vagina after sex (enrollment):

    
 

No

7 (36.8)

67 (49.3)

28 (52.8)

0.50

 

Yes

12 (63.2)

69 (50.7)

25 (47.2)

 

Vaginal practice for washing:

    
 

No

7 (36.8)

51 (37.5)

21 (39.6)

0.88

 

Yes, but not the evening before visit

3 (15.8)

14 (10.3)

7 (13.2)

 
 

Yes, including evening before visit

9 (47.4)

71 (52.2)

25 (47.2)

 

Products used to wash/clean/dry vagina

    
 

No product

6 (31.6)

51 (37.5)

20 (37.7)

0.48

 

Water or fingers only

6 (31.6)

39 (28.7)

17 (32.1)

 
 

Water + soap

3 (15.8)

35 (25.7)

14 (26.4)

 
 

Cloth

4 (21.1)

11 (8.1)

2 (3.8)

 

Reproductive history at screening

    

Median gravidity (IQR)

2 (1, 3)

2 (1, 3)

2 (1, 3)

0.78

Median parity (IQR)

2 (1, 2.5)

1.5 (0, 2)

1 (0, 2)

0.76

Currently pregnant

    
 

No

16 (84.2)

127 (93.4)

51 (96.2)

0.19

 

Yes

3 (15.8)

9 (6.6)

2 (3.8)

 

Breast feeding:

    
 

No

16 (84.2)

119 (87.5)

49 (92.5)

0.48

 

Yes

3 (15.8)

17 (12.5)

4 (7.5)

 

Median months since last deliveryi† (IQR)

41 (28, 54)

33 (19, 48)

56 (28, 82)

0.01

Current contraceptive use:

    
 

None, pregnant

3 (15.8)

9 (6.6)

2 (3.8)

0.58

 

None, not pregnant

3 (15.8)

30 (22.1)

13 (24.5)

 
 

Combined oral contraceptives

3 (15.8)

19 (14.0)

9 (17.0)

 
 

Progestin-only injectables

5 (26.3)

44 (32.4)

11 (20.8)

 
 

Condoms + IUD

5 (26.3)

34 (25.0)

18 (34.0)

 
  1. Abbreviations:IQR inter quartile range, IUD intra uterine device, IVP intravaginal practice, KE Kenya, KRST Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Tanzania, RSA Republic of South Africa, RW Rwanda, TZ Tanzania.
  2. *Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous data and Fisher’s exact test for categorical data.
  3. aThe composite score ‘socio-economic-status’ was calculated as follows: income: no income (=1), up to the median (=2), median to 75th percentile (=3), and ≥ 75th percentile (=4); housing: informal dwelling (=1), room inside house or flat (=2), rented house or flat (=3), bonded/mortgaged house or flat (=4); and toilet: no facility/bush/field/yraditional pit toilet (=1), ventilated improved pit latrine (=2), and flush toilet (=3). The total score was categorized in tertiles as low, medium, high.
  4. bThe composite variable for sexual risk taking was constructed as follows: High risk: sex worker OR at least three sex partners last year OR had at least one sex partner (in the last 3 months) with HIV OR age first sex less than 15 yrs; Medium risk: at least two sex partners last year OR had at least one sex partner (in the last 3 months) who had multiple partners; Low risk: one or no sex partners in last year AND did not have any sex partner (in the last 3 months) with multiple partners AND age first sex at least 15 years.
  5. c8/208 values missing.
  6. d2/208 values missing.
  7. e1/208 values missing.
  8. f30/208 values missing.
  9. g124/208 values missing.
  10. h19/208 values missing.
  11. i71/208 values missing.
  12. †For every one month increase in the time since last delivery, women were less likely to be assigned to cluster KRST-II than cluster KRST-pIII-V (OR = 0.98; 95% CI 0.97, 0.99). Time since last delivery was not statistically significantly different between clusters KRST-I and KRST-II, and between clusters KRST-I and KRST-pIII-V.
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BMC Infectious Diseases

ISSN: 1471-2334

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