The study suggests that changes in gut microbiota composition may be linked to persistent symptoms in patients with long-term complications of COVID-19, and further research is needed to explore if modifying the gut microbiota can aid in recovery from post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.
- Gut microbiome composition is linked to post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS). - Patients with PACS had higher levels of Ruminococcus gnavus and Bacteroides vulgatus, and lower levels of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. - Persistent respiratory symptoms were correlated with opportunistic gut pathogens. - Neuropsychiatric symptoms and fatigue were correlated with nosocomial gut pathogens. - Butyrate-producing bacteria, such as Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, showed inverse correlations with PACS at 6 months. - Compositional alterations of the gut microbiome were observed in patients with long-term complications of COVID-19. - Further studies should investigate whether microbiota modulation can facilitate timely recovery from PACS.
This is from BMJ in 2023 at https://gut.bmj.com/content/71/3/544.long
Top five keywords: gut microbiota dynamics, prospective cohort, post-acute COVID-19 syndrome, gut microbiome composition, persistent symptoms.
Abstract
Background Long-term complications after COVID-19 are common, but the potential cause for persistent symptoms after viral clearance remains unclear.
Objective To investigate whether gut microbiome composition is linked to post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), defined as at least one persistent symptom 4 weeks after clearance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Methods We conducted a prospective study of 106 patients with a spectrum of COVID-19 severity followed up from admission to 6 months and 68 non-COVID-19 controls. We analysed serial faecal microbiome of 258 samples using shotgun metagenomic sequencing, and correlated the results with persistent symptoms at 6 months.
Results At 6 months, 76% of patients had PACS and the most common symptoms were fatigue, poor memory and hair loss. Gut microbiota composition at admission was associated with occurrence of PACS. Patients without PACS showed recovered gut microbiome profile at 6 months comparable to that of non-COVID-19 controls. Gut microbiome of patients with PACS were characterised by higher levels of Ruminococcus gnavus, Bacteroides vulgatus and lower levels of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii. Persistent respiratory symptoms were correlated with opportunistic gut pathogens, and neuropsychiatric symptoms and fatigue were correlated with nosocomial gut pathogens, including Clostridium innocuum and Actinomyces naeslundii (all p<0.05). Butyrate-producing bacteria, including Bifidobacterium pseudocatenulatum and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii showed the largest inverse correlations with PACS at 6 months.
Conclusion These findings provided observational evidence of compositional alterations of gut microbiome in patients with long-term complications of COVID-19. Further studies should investigate whether microbiota modulation can facilitate timely recovery from post-acute COVID-19 syndrome.
Data availability statement
Data are available in a public, open access repository. Raw data are deposited in a BioProject in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive: PRJNA714459.
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