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Role of Gut and Urinary Microbiome in Children with Urinary Tract Infections: A Systematic Review

Anjali Srivastava, Omprakash Shete, A. Gulia, S. Aggarwal, T. S. Ghosh, V. Ahuja, S. Anand

Diagnostics, 2025

5 citations

Abstract

Background: The complex interaction between the gut and urinary microbiota underscores the importance of understanding microbial dysbiosis in pediatric urinary tract infection (UTI). However, the literature on the gut–urinary axis in pediatric UTIs is limited. This systematic review aims to summarize the current literature on the roles of gut and urinary dysbiosis in pediatric UTIs. Methods: This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. A comprehensive literature search was performed across four databases, including PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and EMBASE. All studies published between January 2003 and December 2023 utilizing 16S rRNA sequencing to profile the gut or urinary microbiome in children with UTIs were included. Heat map visualization was used to compare microbial profiles between UTI and control cohorts. The methodological quality assessment was performed using the Newcastle–Ottawa scale (NOS). Results: Eight studies were included in this review. While five studies compared the microbiota signatures between patients and controls, three studies focused solely on the UTI cohort. Also, the gut and urinary microbiome profiles were investigated by four studies each. The consistent loss of microbiome alpha-diversity with an enrichment of specific putative pathobiont microbes was observed among the included studies. Escherichia coli consistently emerged as the predominant…

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