Statistical analysis
Continuous variables were expressed as a median and interquartile range
(IQR), whereas categorical variables were expressed as percentages.
Mann-Whitney U and Fisher exact tests were applied for comparison of
maternal demographic and clinical characteristics between COVID-19
patients with healthy controls. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS
Statistics for Windows, version 26.0 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.).
The alpha diversity, beta diversity, and vaginal microbiota composition
of the COVID-19 group, and healthy control were compared.
Alpha-diversity metrics were calculated as the number of phyla, genus,
and species. The vaginal microbiota of asymptomatic or mild, moderate,
or severe cases and healthy controls were compared. Beta-diversity was
defined by using Bray-Curtis distance. The differences in alpha
diversity metrics were performed by Wilcoxon signed-rank test using
Python 3.7 (32-bit) and statistical significance was set as P value
<.05. Statistical data were visualized with GraphPad Prism
8.0.2.
Data availability: All data generated or analyzed during this
study are included in this published article.