A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

Longitudinal Changes in Early Nasal Microbiota and the Risk of Childhood Asthma




AuthorsLaura Toivonen, Sinikka Karppinen, Linnea Schuez-Havupalo, Matti Waris, Qiushui He, Kristi L. Hoffman, Joseph F. Petrosino, Orianne Dumas, Carlos A. Camargo, Kohei Hasegawa, Ville Peltola

PublisherAMER ACAD PEDIATRICS

Publication year2020

JournalPediatrics

Journal name in sourcePEDIATRICS

Journal acronymPEDIATRICS

Article numberARTN e20200421

Volume146

Issue4

Number of pages11

ISSN0031-4005

eISSN1098-4275

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2020-0421


Abstract
In this birth cohort of 704 children, we identified distinct longitudinal nasal microbiota profiles in early life that were associated with differential risks of developing asthma.OBJECTIVES: Although the airway microbiota is a highly dynamic ecology, the role of longitudinal changes in airway microbiota during early childhood in asthma development is unclear. We aimed to investigate the association of longitudinal changes in early nasal microbiota with the risk of developing asthma. METHODS: In this prospective, population-based birth cohort study, we followed children from birth to age 7 years. The nasal microbiota was tested by using 16S ribosomal RNA gene sequencing at ages 2, 13, and 24 months. We applied an unsupervised machine learning approach to identify longitudinal nasal microbiota profiles during age 2 to 13 months (the primary exposure) and during age 2 to 24 months (the secondary exposure) and examined the association of these profiles with the risk of physician-diagnosed asthma at age 7 years. RESULTS: Of the analytic cohort of 704 children, 57 (8%) later developed asthma. We identified 4 distinct longitudinal nasal microbiota profiles during age 2 to 13 months. In the multivariable analysis, compared with the persistent Moraxella dominance profile during age 2 to 13 months, the persistent Moraxella sparsity profile was associated with a significantly higher risk of asthma (adjusted odds ratio, 2.74; 95% confidence interval, 1.20-6.27). Similar associations were observed between the longitudinal changes in nasal microbiota during age 2 to 24 months and risk of asthma. CONCLUSIONS: Children with an altered longitudinal pattern in the nasal microbiota during early childhood had a high risk of developing asthma. Our data guide the development of primary prevention strategies (eg, early identification of children at high risk and modification of microbiota) for childhood asthma. These observations present a new avenue for risk modification for asthma (eg, microbiota modification).



Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 14:24