Associations between psychological or biological stress indicators and gut microbiota in pregnant women findings from a prospective longitudinal study

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F68081766%3A_____%2F25%3A00637673" target="_blank" >RIV/68081766:_____/25:00637673 - isvavai.cz</a>

Alternative codes found

RIV/00216208:11210/25:10499839 RIV/00216208:11110/25:10499839 RIV/00216208:11310/25:10499839

Result on the web

<a href="https://bmcmicrobiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12866-025-04146-6" target="_blank" >https://bmcmicrobiol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12866-025-04146-6</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12866-025-04146-6" target="_blank" >10.1186/s12866-025-04146-6</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Associations between psychological or biological stress indicators and gut microbiota in pregnant women findings from a prospective longitudinal study

Original language description

Background: The perinatal period has been linked with higher vulnerability to stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety, as well as with dynamic changes in the composition of maternal gut microbiota. While recent studies indicated significant associations between stress, depression, or anxiety, and alterations in gut microbiota in pregnant women, research in this avenue is still emerging, with existing studies often being limited by small sample sizes.nMethod: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study of 171 women, collecting gut microbiota samples in each trimester of pregnancy and in the early postpartum, questionnaire data (perceived stress via the Perceived Stress Scale, symptoms of depression via the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, and anxiety via the 6-item State-Trait Anxiety Inventory) twice in each trimester and twice in the early postpartum period, and blood samples for cortisol levels analysis in the first and third pregnancy trimesters. Gut microbiota samples were analyzed by amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA gene.nResults: Perceived stress and symptoms of depression and anxiety showed moderate temporal changes and a high consistency at the individual level over the study period. Cortisol levels rose significantly from the first to the third trimester. There were significant temporal changes in microbiota composition between the first and second trimesters, and between the first and third trimesters. After controlling for false positive findings due to multiple testing, we found no significant associations between stress-related variables (perceived stress, cortisol levels, symptoms of depression and anxiety) and gut microbiota diversity, microbial community composition, or relative abundances of individual bacterial taxa.nConclusions: The present study results contradict previous research that indicated significant associations between emotions and gut microbiota in the perinatal period. Although we cannot provide an ultimate explanation for this discrepancy, we propose it can lie in insufficient control for false positives in the differential abundance analyses in most previous studies.

Czech name

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Czech description

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Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

10606 - Microbiology

Project

Result was created during the realization of more than one project. More information in the Projects tab.

Continuities

I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year

2025

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

BMC Microbiology

ISSN

1471-2180

e-ISSN

1471-2180

Volume of the periodical

25

Issue of the periodical within the volume

1

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

12

Pages from-to

442

UT code for WoS article

001532970800002

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-105011095469