Microecological investigation and comparison of two clinical methods to evaluate axillary osmidrosis

Axillary osmidrosis (AO) is a common disease that causes patients to develop malodor and occurs worldwide. There is a lack of uniform standards to evaluate the severity of the odor and identify a sensitive and convenient method to determine the therapeutic effect of AO treatments in a clinical setting. In the present study, the association between pH value and disease severity was investigated and the potential pathogenic bacteria and probiotic pathogens of AO were further examined. A total of 32 patients with bilateral AO and 32 normal healthy controls were recruited for the present study. The odor was investigated using the traditional method (TM) and our groups newly developed Lu swab method (LSM) and according to the results, the cases were assigned a score on a 4‑point scale. The patients' scores and pH value were recorded. The microbiological compositions of the affected sites were determined using 16S rDNA sequencing. The mean LSM score was higher compared with the mean TM score (P<0.05). Furthermore, the mean axillary pH value was higher in patients with AO compared with that in healthy subjects (P<0.0001), and the mean pH value of patients with high disease severity was higher compared with that in patients with moderate disease severity (P<0.001). In the microecological flora, the proportion of Staphylococcus species on patients with AO was significantly lower compared with that on normal controls (P<0.0001), while the proportion of Corynebacterium and Anaerococcus was significantly higher compared with that on normal controls (P<0.01 and P<0.001, respectively). In conclusion, LSM provided a higher sensitivity for evaluating odor severity than the TM and may be suitable for use in a clinical setting. The pH value was positively associated with AO severity. Staphylococcus may be an appropriate probiotic for the treatment of AO, while Corynebacterium and Anaerococcus may be causative pathogens of AO. The present study was registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (registration no. ChiCTR2000037275).