Browsing by Subject "suolistomikrobiomi"

OBJECTIVES. The association between prenatal maternal stress and adverse health and developmental offspring outcomes has been long known but explanations for this association remain insufficient. One of the most recent suggestions is gut microbiota. Only a few studies with many limitations have concentrated on the association between prenatal stress and offspring gut microbiota. The aim of this study is to conduct a large scale study with follow-up covering the whole infancy, and to test whether the association differs between girls and boys. METHODS. This study’s sample consists of 825 mothers and their infants from HELMi cohort. Prenatal maternal stress is measured with self-report questionnaire, and infant gut microbiota from fecal samples. 16S rRNA sequencing is used in analyzing the microbiota. RESULTS. High stress group had lower alpha-diversity than low stress group at 3 weeks. No differences were found in richness and beta-diversity. Several phylum, family, and genus level bacteria were associated with prenatal stress. Regarding sex differences, no differences were found in richness or in alpha- or beta-diversity. However, in phylum, family, and genus level bacterial relative abundances, more associations were found in boys than in girls. CONCLUSION. Overall the findings in this study were contradicting compared to previous findings. There was indication that there is no clear association between prenatal stress and infant overall microbiota composition. Also, the association regarding bacterial abundances could decline over age, and the association might be stronger in boys. However, not very consistent conclusions can be made based on research conducted so far.