Imperial College London
Alternate

DrKathleenSim

Faculty of Medicine, Department of Infectious Disease

Honorary Clinical Research Fellow
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 7594 3717k.sim

 
 
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Location

 

125Wright Fleming WingSt Mary's Campus

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Sim:2023:10.1186/s13099-022-00529-6,
author = {Sim, K and Powell, E and Emma, C and Kroll, JS and Shaw, A},
doi = {10.1186/s13099-022-00529-6},
journal = {Gut Pathogens},
title = {Development of the gut microbiota during early life in premature and term infants},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13099-022-00529-6},
volume = {15},
year = {2023}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Background:The gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota has been linked to health consequences throughout life, from early life illnesses (e.g. sepsis and necrotising enterocolitis) to lifelong chronic conditions such as obesity and inflammatory bowel disease. It has also been observed that events in early life can lead to shifts in the microbiota, with some of these changes having been documented to persist into adulthood. A particularly extreme example of a divergent early GI microbiota occurs in premature neonates, who display a very different GI community to term infants. Certain characteristic patterns have been associated with negative health outcomes during the neonatal period, and these patterns may prove to have continual damaging effects if not resolved.Results:In this study we compared a set of premature infants with a paired set of term infants (n = 37 pairs) at 6 weeks of age and at 2 years of age. In the samples taken at 6 weeks of age we found microbial communities differing in both diversity and specific bacterial groups between the two infant cohorts. We identified clinical factors associated with over-abundance of potentially pathogenic organisms (e.g. Enterobacteriaceae) and reduced abundances of some beneficial organisms (e.g. Bifidobacterium). We contrasted these findings with samples taken at 2 years of age, which indicated that despite a very different initial gut microbiota, the two infant groups converged to a similar, more adult-like state. We identified clinical factors, including both prematurity and delivery method, which remain associated with components of the gut microbiota. Both clinical factors and microbial characteristics are compared to the occurrence of childhood wheeze and eczema, revealing associations between components of the GI microbiota and the development of these allergic conditions.Conclusions:The faecal microbiota differs greatly between infants born at term and those born prematurely during early life, yet it c
AU  - Sim,K
AU  - Powell,E
AU  - Emma,C
AU  - Kroll,JS
AU  - Shaw,A
DO  - 10.1186/s13099-022-00529-6
PY  - 2023///
SN  - 1757-4749
TI  - Development of the gut microbiota during early life in premature and term infants
T2  - Gut Pathogens
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13099-022-00529-6
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/102717
VL  - 15
ER  -
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