Association of specific microbiota taxa in the amniotic fluid at birth with severe acute and longer-term outcomes of very preterm infants: A prospective observational study.
BMC Med. 23:431 (2025)
BACKGROUND: Dysbiotic microbial colonization predisposes to severe outcomes of prematurity, including mortality and severe morbidities like necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), late-onset infection (LOI) and bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD). Here, we studied the variations in the bacterial signatures in the amniotic fluid (AF) of very preterm deliveries < 32 weeks with severe acute and longer-term outcomes within a prospective cohort study. METHODS: One hundred twenty-six AF samples were available for 16S rRNA gene metabarcoding to describe bacterial community structure and diversity in connection to intraventricular haemorrhage (IVH), LOI, focal intestinal perforation (FIP), NEC, retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) and the 2-year cognitive (MDI) and motor (PDI) outcome. RESULTS: Diversity and overall bacterial community composition did not differ between the studied outcomes. But disparities in sequences assigned to single bacterial taxa were observed for the acute outcomes LOI and ROP and the longer-term impairments of MDI and PDI. Enrichments associated with a poor acute outcome were particularly detected in the Escherichia-Shigella cluster, while the predominance of Ureaplasma and Enterococcus species was associated with unrestricted acute and longer-term outcomes. Analysis for FIP did not reach any significance. IVH and NEC constituted rare events, prohibiting the analyses. CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide evidence that microbiota patterns at birth might allow the early identification of infants at risk for the severe outcomes of prematurity and argue against morbidity-specific associations. The data support the early origins hypothesis and relevant contribution of prenatal factors. The partly existing disparities between acute and longer-term outcomes might be traced back to the relevant impact of the diverse longitudinal exposures and socioeconomic factors.
Impact Factor
Scopus SNIP
Web of Science
Times Cited
Scopus
Cited By
Altmetric
Publication type
Article: Journal article
Document type
Scientific Article
Thesis type
Editors
Keywords
16s Rrna ; Amniotic Fluid ; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia ; Intraventricular Haemorrhage ; Late-onset Infection ; Microbiome ; Preterm Infant ; Psychomotor Outcome ; Respiratory Distress ; Retinopathy Of Prematurity; Weight Infants; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia; Nasal Cannulae; Risk-factors; Retinopathy; Immune; Inflammation; Impairment; Infection; Exposure
Keywords plus
Language
english
Publication Year
2025
Prepublished in Year
0
HGF-reported in Year
2025
ISSN (print) / ISBN
1741-7015
e-ISSN
1741-7015
ISBN
Book Volume Title
Conference Title
Conference Date
Conference Location
Proceedings Title
Quellenangaben
Volume: 23,
Issue: 1,
Pages: ,
Article Number: 431
Supplement: ,
Series
Publisher
Bmc
Publishing Place
Campus, 4 Crinan St, London N1 9xw, England
Day of Oral Examination
0000-00-00
Advisor
Referee
Examiner
Topic
University
University place
Faculty
Publication date
0000-00-00
Application date
0000-00-00
Patent owner
Further owners
Application country
Patent priority
Reviewing status
Peer reviewed
POF-Topic(s)
30202 - Environmental Health
Research field(s)
Environmental Sciences
PSP Element(s)
G-504700-002
Grants
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
Copyright
Erfassungsdatum
2025-07-23