Skip to main content

Table 3 Comparison of the characteristics of men with Corynebacterium-dominated and non-Corynebacterium-dominated penile microbiota

From: The penile microbiota of Black South African men: relationship with human papillomavirus and HIV infection

Characteristic

Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota (CST-1)

(N = 127)

Non-Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota(CSTs2–6)

(N = 111)

p-value#

Age (years)

37.0 (31.0–44.0)

36.0 (30.0–44.0)

0.597

Age at sexual debut (years)a

17.0 (15.0–18.0)

16.0 (15.0–18.0)

0.975

Number of lifetime sexual partners

6.0 (3.0–12.0)

7.0 (3.0–14.0)

0.693

Number of sexual acts with study partner in last montha

4.0 (2.0–10.0)

4.0 (2.3–10.0)

0.763

Current use of condom (% (n/N))

64.7 (77/119)

63.4 (64/101)

0.888

HPV-positive (%(n/N))

51.2 (65/127)

58.6 (65/111)

0.297

HR-HPV-positive (%(n/N))

36.2 (46/127)

50.5 (56/111)

0.036

Multiple HPV infection (%(n/N))

64.6 (42/65)

78.5 (51/65)

0.080

Multiple HR-HPV infection (%(n/N))

73.9 (34/46)

80.4 (45/56)

0.438

HIV-positive (% (n/N))

33.9 (43/127)

40.5 (45/111)

0.346

CD4+ T-cell count if HIV-positive (cells/μl)a

348.5 (240.5–479.8)

308 (217.0–484.5)

0.471

HIV viral load in HIV-positive men (copies/ml)a

4.0 log10 (3.1–4.7)

4.2 log10 (3.8–4.8)

0.376

Circumcised (% (n/N))

93.6 (117/125)

95.1 (98/103)

0.776

Cigarette use (% (n/N))

   

 Never smoked

15.7(20/127)

18.2 (20/110)

0.879

 Ex-smoker

17.3 (22/127)

16.4 (18/110

 Current smoker

66.9 (85/127)

65.5 (72/110)

  1. Abbreviations: HPV Human papillomavirus, HR-HPV High-risk human papillomavirus, HIV Human immunodeficiency virus, CST Community state type
  2. #p-values are shown for the comparison of HPV-negative and HPV-positive men. Associations of continuous variables (expressed as medians with interquartile ranges (IQRs, at 25th and 75th percentiles)) and categorical variables were computed by Mann-Whitney unpaired and Chi-square/Fisher’s exact tests, respectively. Significant p-values (< 0.05) are shown in bold
  3. aData was not available on the age at sexual debut for three men (three with Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota), lifetime number of sexual partners of four men (one with Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota and three with non-Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota), number of sexual acts with study partner in the last month of six men (three with Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota and three with non-Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota), CD4+ T-cell count of one man (with Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota) and viral load measurement for thirty one men (seven with Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota and twenty four with non-Corynebacterium-dominated microbiota).