Metabolic differences in the maternal gut microbiome precede the birth of large-for-gestational-age infants: A nested case-control study
Abstract
Background: Neonatal size influences newborn health and is affected by prenatal factors, such as the maternal gut microbiome, which impacts maternal metabolism and fetal growth. Methods: A nested case-control study (1:2 matched) was conducted within the Swedish Maternal Microbiome (SweMaMi, 2017 - 2021) cohort to investigate the associations between maternal gut microbiome profiles during pregnancy and the risk of delivering large-for-gestational-age (LGA; birth weight >90th percentile) infants compared to appropriate-for-gestational-age (AGA; birth weight 10-90th percentile) infants, with a focus on dietary influence. Shotgun metagenomics enabled taxonomic and functional profiling of fecal samples collected during early (TP1: 10-20 weeks; n = 245:490) and late pregnancy (TP2: 28-32 weeks; n = 157:314). Additionally, we analyzed within-group changes in microbiome diversity from TP1 to TP2 to compare longitudinal patterns between the groups. Results: At TP1, microbial species richness was higher in mothers of LGA infants (p = 0.01, 95% CI: 3.26 to 24.9), but this difference was not observed at TP2 (p = 0.30, 95% CI: -7.04 to 22.7). Beta diversity (overall microbial structure) did not differ significantly between groups at either time point. Within-sample diversity, as measured by the Shannon index, showed a significantly greater decline in the LGA group compared to the AGA group (p = 0.03, 95% CI: -0.13 to -0.007), suggesting a loss of microbial diversity specific to the LGA…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a case-control, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 245 participants or records.
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