Comparison of the Vaginal Microbiota in Postmenopausal Black and White Women

Background. We compared vaginal microbial communities in postmenopausal black and white women. Methods. Shotgun sequencing of vaginal swabs from postmenopausal women self-identified as black or white was compared using MiRKAT. Results. Vaginal community dominance by Lactobacillus crispatus or Lactobacillus gasseri was more common in 44 postmenopausal black women (n = 12, 27%) than among 44 matched white women (n = 2, 5%; P = .01). No individual taxa were significantly more abundant in either group. Conclusions. We identified small overall differences in vaginal microbial communities of black and white postmenopausal women. L. crispatus dominance was more common in black women.