Salivary Microbiome Diversity in Kuwaiti Adolescents with Varied Body Mass Index-A Pilot Study.

Hend Alqaderi,Sriraman Devarajan,Fahd Al-Mulla,Muthukrishnan Eaaswarkhanth,Rasheeba Nizam,Sindhu Jacob,Meganathan P Ramakodi

doi:10.3390/microorganisms9061222

Abstract

The potential role of the salivary microbiome in human diseases has increasingly been explored. The salivary microbiome has been characterized in several global populations, except the Arabian Gulf region. Hence, in this pilot study, we profiled the salivary microbiome of Kuwaiti adolescents with varied body mass indexes (BMI). The analyses of core microbiome composition showed Firmicutes, Bacteroidota, Proteobacteria, Patescibacteria, Fusobacteriota, Actinobacteriota, and Campylobacterota as the common phylum found in the Kuwaiti adolescent population. We also illustrated a diverse microbial community among the sampled individuals grouped according to their BMI. Notably, the overweight group was found with a higher number of distinct taxa than other groups. As such, the core microbiome composition was found to be significantly different (p-value < 0.001) across different BMI groups. Overall, this pilot investigation outlined the microbial diversity and suggested that changes in salivary microbiome composition in people with obese or overweight BMI might reflect their susceptibility to oral diseases.

Highlights

Obesity is a chronic health condition determined by an individual’s body mass index (BMI)
All the individuals included in this study were adolescents aged 17–18 years during sample collection conducted in 2019
It is intriguing to note that the obese and overweight groups had an increased number of observed ASVs compared to the normal group, which contrasts with earlier salivary [10,31] and gut [5,32,33,34] microbiome studies which reported lower alpha diversity in obese individuals

Summary

Introduction

Obesity is a chronic health condition determined by an individual’s body mass index (BMI). This complex metabolic disorder is characterized by excessive fat accumulation in the body resulting in adverse health effects. The escalating global childhood and adolescent obesity rate from 4% in 1975 to over 18% in 2016 [1] is highly alarming. This obesity epidemic is a worldwide growing concern, especially in the oil-rich Arabian Gulf countries, as it increases the risk of comorbid health burdens such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and some cancer types. The State of Kuwait tops the Middle East region and leads the United

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