Subgingival Microbiome in Pregnancy and a Potential Relationship to Early Term Birth.

Background

Periodontal disease in pregnancy is considered a risk factor for adverse birth outcomes. Periodontal disease has a microbial etiology, however, the current state of knowledge about the subgingival microbiome in pregnancy is not well understood.

Objective

To characterize the structure and diversity of the subgingival microbiome in early and late pregnancy and explore relationships between the subgingival microbiome and preterm birth among pregnant Black women.

Methods

This longitudinal descriptive study used 16S rRNA sequencing to profile the subgingival microbiome of 59 Black women and describe microbial ecology using alpha and beta diversity metrics. We also compared microbiome features across early (8-14 weeks) and late (24-30 weeks) gestation overall and according to gestational age at birth outcomes (spontaneous preterm, spontaneous early term, full term).

Results

In this sample of Black pregnant women, the top twenty bacterial taxa represented in the subgingival microbiome included a spectrum representative of various stages of biofilm progression leading to periodontal disease, including known periopathogens

Conclusions

Although the composition of the subgingival microbiome is shifted toward complexes associated with periodontal disease, the diversity of the microbiome remains stable throughout pregnancy. Several taxa were identified as being associated with spontaneous early term birth. Two, in particular, are promising targets of further investigation. Depletion of the oral commensal

Informations de copyright

Copyright © 2022 Yang, Claussen, Arthur, Hertzberg, Geurs, Corwin and Dunlop.

Déclaration de conflit d'intérêts

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.