Incorporating microbiota data into epidemiologic models: examples from vaginal microbiota research.

Area of Science:

• Microbiology
• Epidemiology
• Bioinformatics

Background:

• Vaginal microbiota (VMB) research has largely been descriptive.
• Next-generation sequencing (NGS) and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) are increasingly utilized in VMB studies.
• There is a growing need to move beyond descriptive analyses in VMB research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide an overview of how NGS and qPCR data can address clinical epidemiologic questions in VMB research.
• To highlight the application of these technologies using VMB examples.
• To guide future research towards more clinically relevant VMB investigations.

Main Methods:

• Review of methodological literature and VMB articles published between 2008 and 2015.
• Analysis of VMB data using ecologic methods.
• Comparison of individual taxa or community compositions between groups or time points.
• Data reduction techniques followed by integration into traditional biostatistical models.

Main Results:

• VMB data analysis encompasses ecologic methods.
• Comparative analyses focus on the presence/abundance of taxa or community structures.
• Methods exist to simplify complex VMB data for statistical modeling.

Conclusions:

• Integrating VMB research with rigorous epidemiologic methods is crucial.
• Future studies should focus on associations between VMB composition and clinical outcomes.
• Investigating the effects of interventions on the VMB requires robust study designs, sampling, and confounding adjustment.