Abstract
Several reports have revealed that the first-pass meconium hosts a diverse microbiome, but its clinical significance is not known. We designed a prospective population-based cohort study to evaluate whether the meconium microbiome predicts subsequent growth in children. The study comprised 212 consecutive newborns with a meconium sample and a follow-up sample at 1 year of age. Trained nurses measured the children for weight and length using standardized techniques. We used next-generation sequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA gene and machine-learning approach for the analysis. The children with overweight at 3 years of age differed in their meconium microbiome from those with normal weight, having a higher proportion of Bacteroidetes phylum (29% vs 15%, P = .013). Using the machine-learning approach, the gut microbiome at birth predicted subsequent overweight with area under the curve 0.70 (SD 0.04). A lower proportion of Staphylococcus at birth was associated with greater length/height at 1 year (ß = -.68, P = .029) and 2 years of age (β = -.74, P = .030). The microbiome of the first-pass meconium predicted subsequent overweight at the age of 3 years. The association between the gut microbiome and overweight appears to start already during pregnancy and at birth.
Highlights
Childhood obesity is an increasing problem all over the world.[1]
Intestinal microbiomes at 10 days and 2 years of age to be associated with obesity at the age of 12 years,[6] and the gut microbiome at 3 months with body mass index (BMI) at the age of 5 to 6 years.[7]
The cohort investigated in this prospective population-based study was the same as we have reported on earlier when considering the maternal influence on the microbial composition of the first-pass meconium.[14]
Summary
Intestinal microbiomes at 10 days and 2 years of age to be associated with obesity at the age of 12 years,[6] and the gut microbiome at 3 months with body mass index (BMI) at the age of 5 to 6 years.[7] The use of antimicrobials during pregnancy, maternal BMI before pregnancy, weight gain during pregnancy and the maternal microbiome have been associated with the composition of the intestinal microbiome in early infancy.[8,9,10] Several reports have demonstrated a diverse microbiome in the first stool after birth, the first-pass meconium, formed in utero before birth.[11,12,13] In our previous study of the same cohort, immediate perinatal factors, such as the mode of delivery or antibiotics during delivery, or the sampling time, did not clearly affect the microbial composition of the meconium.[14] The novel concept of foetal microbiome has been suggested to explain such findings. This idea is still controversial,[15,16] and the clinical significance of the microbiome present in the first stool is not well understood
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