Association between Gut Microbiome and Frailty in the Older Adult Population in Korea

Author(s):  
Mi Young Lim ◽  
Seungpyo Hong ◽  
Jung-Ha Kim ◽  
Young-Do Nam

Abstract Frailty is a common geriatric syndrome associated with the risk of adverse health outcomes. Recently, two key pathophysiological characteristics of frailty, altered energy metabolism and dysregulated immunity, have been reported to be associated with gut microbiome dysbiosis, indicating that the gut microbiome plays a role in frailty. However, few studies have directly examined the relationship between the gut microbiome and frailty. Here, we investigated the association of frailty measures with the gut microbiome using 16S rRNA gene sequencing data obtained from the fecal samples of 176 Korean older adults. Overall frailty was scored using the Korean Frailty Index (FI). Grip strength and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) scores were used as physical and mental frailty measures, respectively. In contrast to age, metabolic, and inflammatory biomarkers, the frailty measures were associated with inter-individual variations in microbial composition (false discovery rate [FDR] < 0.2). Both FI and GDS scores were negatively associated with microbial diversity (FDR < 0.2). Frailty measures showed distinct associations with specific microbial taxa and metabolic functions. Particularly, the Bacteroides enterotype was found only in subjects categorized in the frail group. Moreover, we observed that the abundance of beneficial taxa, such as Prevotella copri and Coprococcus eutactus, was reduced in frailer individuals, whereas that of detrimental taxa, such as Bacteroides fragilis and Clostridium hathewayi, was increased (FDR < 0.2). Our findings suggest that the gut microbiome can be used an indicator of an increased risk of frailty or a target for improving health in frail older adults.

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Oksana Kutsyr ◽  
Lucía Maestre-Carballa ◽  
Mónica Lluesma-Gomez ◽  
Manuel Martinez-Garcia ◽  
Nicolás Cuenca ◽  
...  

AbstractThe gut microbiome is known to influence the pathogenesis and progression of neurodegenerative diseases. However, there has been relatively little focus upon the implications of the gut microbiome in retinal diseases such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP). Here, we investigated changes in gut microbiome composition linked to RP, by assessing both retinal degeneration and gut microbiome in the rd10 mouse model of RP as compared to control C57BL/6J mice. In rd10 mice, retinal responsiveness to flashlight stimuli and visual acuity were deteriorated with respect to observed in age-matched control mice. This functional decline in dystrophic animals was accompanied by photoreceptor loss, morphologic anomalies in photoreceptor cells and retinal reactive gliosis. Furthermore, 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data showed a microbial gut dysbiosis with differences in alpha and beta diversity at the genera, species and amplicon sequence variants (ASV) levels between dystrophic and control mice. Remarkably, four fairly common ASV in healthy gut microbiome belonging to Rikenella spp., Muribaculaceace spp., Prevotellaceae UCG-001 spp., and Bacilli spp. were absent in the gut microbiome of retinal disease mice, while Bacteroides caecimuris was significantly enriched in mice with RP. The results indicate that retinal degenerative changes in RP are linked to relevant gut microbiome changes. The findings suggest that microbiome shifting could be considered as potential biomarker and therapeutic target for retinal degenerative diseases.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kundi Yang ◽  
Mengyang Xu ◽  
Jingyi Cao ◽  
Qi Zhu ◽  
Monica Rahman ◽  
...  

AbstractEmerging evidence has highlighted the connection between exposure to air pollution and the increased risk of obesity, metabolic syndrome, and comorbidities. Given the recent interest in studying the effects of ultrafine particle (UFP) on the health of obese individuals, this study examined the effects of gastrointestinal UFP exposure on gut microbial composition and metabolic function using an in vivo murine model of obesity in both sexes. UFPs generated from light-duty diesel engine combustion of petrodiesel (B0) and a petrodiesel/biodiesel fuel blend (80:20 v/v, B20) were administered orally. Multi-omics approaches, including liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS) based targeted metabolomics and 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis, semi-quantitatively compared the effects of 10-day UFP exposures on obese C57B6 mouse gut microbial population, changes in diversity and community function compared to a phosphate buffer solution (PBS) control group. Our results show that sex-specific differences in the gut microbial population in response to UFP exposure can be observed, as UFPs appear to have a differential impact on several bacterial families in males and females. Meanwhile, the alteration of seventy-five metabolites from the gut microbial metabolome varied significantly (ANOVA p < 0.05) across the PBS control, B0, and B20 groups. Multivariate analyses revealed that the fuel-type specific disruption to the microbial metabolome was observed in both sexes, with stronger disruptive effects found in females in comparison to male obese mice. Metabolic signatures of bacterial cellular oxidative stress, such as the decreased concentration of nucleotides and lipids and increased concentrations of carbohydrate, energy, and vitamin metabolites were detected. Furthermore, blood metabolites from the obese mice were differentially affected by the fuel types used to generate the UFPs (B0 vs. B20).


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatima Nari ◽  
Bich Na Jang ◽  
Hin Moi Youn ◽  
Wonjeong Jeong ◽  
Sung-In Jang ◽  
...  

AbstractFrailty is considered a multidimensional geriatric syndrome, manifested by the accumulation of age-associated deficits. The consequences of frailty transitions are still understudied. This study evaluated the influence of frailty transitions on cognitive function in the older adult population. We used data derived from the Korean Longitudinal Study of Aging (KLoSA) (2008–2018) on older adults aged ≥ 65 years. Frailty was assessed using a validated Korean frailty measure known as the frailty instrument (FI), and cognitive function was measured using the Korean version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (K-MMSE). Transitions in frailty and their relationship with cognitive function were investigated using lagged generalized estimating equations (GEE), t-tests, and ANOVA. Respondents who experienced frailty transitions (those with ameliorating frailty), those who developed frailty, and whose frailty remained constant, were more likely to have a lower cognitive function than those who were consistently non-frail. Older age, activities of daily living (ADL) disability, and instrumental ADL disability were more negatively associated with declining cognitive function, especially in the “frail → frail” group. Changes in all individual components of the frailty instrument were significantly associated with impaired cognitive function. The results suggest an association between frailty transitions and cognitive impairment. Over a 2-year span, the remaining frail individuals had the highest rate of cognitive decline in men, while the change from non-frail to frail state in women was significantly associated with the lowest cognitive function values. We recommend early interventions and prevention strategies in older adults to help ameliorate or slow down both frailty and cognitive function decline.


2021 ◽  
pp. 108482232110304
Author(s):  
Grace F. Wittenberg ◽  
Michelle A. McKay ◽  
Melissa O’Connor

Two-thirds of older adults have multimorbidity (MM), or co-occurrence of two or more medical conditions. Mild cognitive impairment (CI) is found in almost 20% of older adults and can lead to further cognitive decline and increased mortality. Older adults with MM are the primary users of home health care services and are at high risk for CI development; however, there is no validated cognitive screening tool used to assess the level of CI in home health users. Given the prevalence of MM and CI in the home health setting, we conducted a review of the literature to understand this association. Due to the absence of literature on CI in home health users, the review focused on the association of MM and CI in community-dwelling older adults. Search terms included home health, older adults, cognitive impairment, and multimorbidity and were applied to the databases PubMed, CINAHL, and PsychInfo leading to eight studies eligible for review. Results show CI is associated with MM in older adults of increasing age, among minorities, and in older adults with lower levels of education. Heart disease was the most prevalent disease associated with increased CI. Sleep disorders, hypertension, arthritis, and hyperlipidemia were also significantly associated with increased CI. The presence of MM and CI was associated with increased risk for death among older adults. Further research and attention are needed regarding the use and development of a validated cognitive assessment tool for home health users to decrease adverse outcomes in the older adult population.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (5) ◽  
pp. 681-695 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.S.Y. Low ◽  
S.-E. Soh ◽  
Y.K. Lee ◽  
K.Y.C. Kwek ◽  
J.D. Holbrook ◽  
...  

Several studies have reported that intestinal microbial colonisation patterns differ between non-allergic and allergic infants. However, the microbial signature underlying the pathogenesis of allergies remains unclear. We aim to gain insight into the development of the intestinal microbiota of healthy infants and infants who develop allergy in early life, and identify potential microbiota biomarkers of later allergic disease. Using a case-control design in a Chinese sub-cohort of a Singaporean birth cohort (GUSTO), we utilised 16S rRNA gene sequencing to assess intestinal microbial composition and diversity of 21 allergic and 18 healthy infants at 3 weeks, 3 months and 6 months of age, and correlated the microbiota with allergy at ages 18 and 36 months. Pronounced differences in intestinal microbiota composition between allergic and healthy infants were observed at 3 months of age. The intestine of healthy infants was colonised with higher abundance of commensal Bifidobacterium. Conversely, Klebsiella, an opportunistic pathogen, was significantly enriched in the allergic infants. Interestingly, infants with a high Klebsiella/Bifidobacterium (K/B) ratio (above the population median K/B ratio) at age 3 months had an odds ratio of developing allergy by 3 years of age of 9.00 (95% confidence interval 1.46-55.50) compared to those with low K/B ratio. This study demonstrated a relationship between the ratio of genera Klebsiella and Bifidobacterium during early infancy and development of paediatric allergy in childhood. Our study postulates that an elevated K/B ratio in early infancy could be a potential indicator of an increased risk of allergy development. This line of research might enable future intervention strategies in early life to prevent or treat allergy. Our study provides new insights into microbial signatures associated with childhood allergy, in particular, suggests that an elevated K/B ratio could be a potential early-life microbiota biomarker of allergic disease.


2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Maria Segura Cardona ◽  
Doris Cardona Arango ◽  
Dedsy Yajaira Berbesí Fernández ◽  
Alejandra Agudelo Martínez

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVE To analyze the traffic accident mortality in the Colombian older adults during the 1998-2012 period and show the loss of productive years and mortality from this cause. METHODS Quantitative study of the trend analysis of deaths in Colombia in traffic accidents, from 1998 to 2012, according to death records and population projected by the Colombian National Administrative Department of Statistics. Frequency distribution profile of the deceased, death rates per hundred thousand inhabitants, potential years of life lost and calculation of excess mortality by age in the over 60 were made. RESULTS In the study period 100,758 deaths occurred in traffic accidents, 6,717 annual average, of which 18.5% occurred in people aged 60 years and over. The predominated deaths were men; the risk of dying was 32.15 per hundred thousand people in this age range, with double risk of dying those under 60 years. CONCLUSIONS The young population has a higher proportion of deaths, but those over 60 years are at increased risk of death, leading to the need to turn our gaze to the improvement of road infrastructure and standards, to educate the population in self-care and compliance with safety measures and prepare society for an ever more adult population, more numerous and more prone to take risks.


Author(s):  
Ang Li ◽  
Tiantian Li ◽  
Xinxin Gao ◽  
Hang Yan ◽  
Jingfeng Chen ◽  
...  

Thyroid nodules are found in nearly half of the adult population. Accumulating evidence suggests that the gut microbiota plays an important role in thyroid metabolism, yet the association between gut microbiota capacity, thyroid nodules, and thyroid function has not been studied comprehensively. We performed a gut microbiome genome-wide association study in 196 patients with thyroid nodules and 283 controls by using whole-genome shotgun sequencing. We found that participants with high-grade thyroid nodules have decreased number of gut microbial species and gene families compared with those with lower grade nodules and controls. There are also significant alterations in the overall microbial composition in participants with high-grade thyroid nodules. The gut microbiome in participants with high-grade thyroid nodules is characterized by greater amino acid degradation and lower butyrate production. The relative abundances of multiple butyrate producing microbes are reduced in patients with high-grade thyroid nodules and the relative abundances of L-histidine metabolism pathways are associated with thyrotropin-releasing hormone. Our study describes the gut microbiome characteristics in thyroid nodules and a gut-thyroid link and highlight specific gut microbiota as a potential therapeutic target to regulate thyroid metabolism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. e0009312
Author(s):  
Yi-Hua Pan ◽  
Mei-Ying Liao ◽  
Yu-Wen Chien ◽  
Tzong-Shiann Ho ◽  
Hui-Ying Ko ◽  
...  

A shift in dengue cases toward the adult population, accompanied by an increased risk of severe cases of dengue in the elderly, has created an important emerging issue in the past decade. To understand the level of past DENV infection among older adults after a large dengue outbreak occurred in southern Taiwan in 2015, we screened 1498 and 2603 serum samples from healthy residents aged ≥ 40 years in Kaohsiung City and Tainan City, respectively, to assess the seroprevalence of anti-DENV IgG in 2016. Seropositive samples were verified to exclude cross-reaction from Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), using DENV/JEV-NS1 indirect IgG ELISA. We further identified viral serotypes and secondary DENV infections among positive samples in the two cities. The overall age-standardized seroprevalence of DENV-IgG among participants was 25.77% in Kaohsiung and 11.40% in Tainan, and the seroprevalence was significantly higher in older age groups of both cities. Although the percentages of secondary DENV infection in Kaohsiung and Tainan were very similar (43.09% and 44.76%, respectively), DENV-1 and DENV-2 spanned a wider age range in Kaohsiung, whereas DENV-2 was dominant in Tainan. As very few studies have obtained the serostatus of DENV infection in older adults and the elderly, this study highlights the need for further investigation into antibody status, as well as the safety and efficacy of dengue vaccination in these older populations.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evangelia Stavroulaki ◽  
Jan S. Suchodolski ◽  
Rachel Pilla ◽  
Geoffrey T. Fosgate ◽  
Chi-Hsuan Sung ◽  
...  

Antibiotic treatment in early life influences gastrointestinal (GI) microbial composition and function. In humans, the resultant intestinal dysbiosis is associated with an increased risk for certain diseases later in life. The objective of this study was to determine the temporal effects of antibiotic treatment on the GI microbiome of young cats. Fecal samples were collected from cats randomly allocated to receive either amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (20 mg/kg q12h) for 20 days (AMC group; 15 cats) or doxycycline (10 mg/kg q24h) for 28 days (DOX group;15 cats) as part of the standard treatment of upper respiratory tract infection. In addition, feces were collected from healthy control cats (CON group;15 cats). All cats were approximately two months of age at enrolment. Samples were collected on days 0 (baseline), 20 or 28 (AMC and DOX, respectively; last day of treatment), 60, 120, and 300. DNA was extracted and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and qPCR assays were performed. Fecal microbial composition was different on the last day of treatment for AMC cats, and 1 month after the end of antibiotic treatment for DOX cats, compared to CON cats. Species richness was significantly greater in DOX cats compared to CON cats on the last day of treatment. Abundance of Enterobacteriales was increased, and that of Erysipelotrichi was decreased in cats of the AMC group on the last day of treatment compared to CON cats. The abundance of the phylum Proteobacteria was increased in cats of the DOX group on days 60 and 120 compared to cats of the CON group. Only minor differences in abundances between the treatment groups and the control group were present on day 300. Both antibiotics appear to delay the developmental progression of the microbiome, and this effect is more profound during treatment with amoxicillin/clavulanic acid and one month after treatment with doxycycline. Future studies are required to determine if these changes influence microbiome function and whether they have possible effects on disease susceptibility in cats.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Ivanne Le Roy ◽  
Alexander Kurilshikov ◽  
Emily Leeming ◽  
Alessia Visconti ◽  
Ruth Bowyer ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Yoghurt contains live bacteria that could contribute via modulation of the gut microbiota to its reported beneficial effects such as reduced body weight gain and lower incidence of type 2 diabetes. To date, the association between yoghurt consumption and the composition of the gut microbiota is underexplored. Here we used clinical variables, metabolomics, 16S rRNA and shotgun metagenomic sequencing data collected on over 1000 predominantly female UK twins to define the link between the gut microbiota and yoghurt-associated health benefits. Results: According to food frequency questionnaires (FFQ), 73% of subjects consumed yoghurt. Consumers presented a healthier diet pattern (healthy eating index: beta = 2.17±0.34; P = 2.72x10-10) and improved metabolic health characterised by reduced visceral fat (beta = -28.18±11.71 g; P = 0.01). According to 16S rRNA gene analyses and whole shotgun metagenomic sequencing approach consistent taxonomic variations were observed with yoghurt consumption. More specifically, we identified higher abundance of species used as yoghurt starters Streptococcus thermophilus (beta = 0.41±0.051; P = 6.14x10-12) and sometimes added Bifidobacterium animalis subsp. lactis (beta = 0.30±0.052; P = 1.49x10-8) in the gut of yoghurt consumers. Replication in 1103 volunteers from the LifeLines-DEEP cohort confirmed the increase of S. thermophilus among yoghurt consumers. Using food records collected the day prior to faecal sampling we showed that increase in these two yoghurt bacteria could be transient. Metabolomics analysis revealed that B. animalis subsp. lactis was associated with 13 faecal metabolites including a 3-hydroxyoctanoic acid, known to be involved in the regulation of gut inflammation.Conclusions: Yoghurt consumption is associated with reduced visceral fat mass and changes in gut microbiome including transient increase of yoghurt-contained species (i.e. S. thermophilus and B. lactis).


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