Gustav Smith
Associate professor
OSA Is Associated With the Human Gut Microbiota Composition and Functional Potential in the Population-Based Swedish CardioPulmonary bioImage Study
Author
Summary, in English
Background: OSA is a common sleep-breathing disorder linked to increased risk of cardiovascular disease. Intermittent upper airway obstruction and hypoxia, hallmarks of OSA, have been shown in animal models to induce substantial changes to the gut microbiota composition, and subsequent transplantation of fecal matter to other animals induced changes in BP and glucose metabolism. Research Question: Does OSA in adults associate with the composition and functional potential of the human gut microbiota? Study Design and Methods: We used respiratory polygraphy data from up to 3,570 individuals 50 to 64 years of age from the population-based Swedish Cardiopulmonary bioimage Study combined with deep shotgun metagenomics of fecal samples to identify cross-sectional associations between three OSA parameters covering apneas and hypopneas, cumulative sleep time in hypoxia, and number of oxygen desaturation events with gut microbiota composition. Data collection about potential confounders was based on questionnaires, onsite anthropometric measurements, plasma metabolomics, and linkage with the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Results: We found that all three OSA parameters were associated with lower diversity of species in the gut. Furthermore, in multivariable-adjusted analysis, the OSA-related hypoxia parameters were associated with the relative abundance of 128 gut bacterial species, including higher abundance of Blautia obeum and Collinsella aerofaciens. The latter species was also independently associated with increased systolic BP. Furthermore, the cumulative time in hypoxia during sleep was associated with the abundance of genes involved in nine gut microbiota metabolic pathways, including propionate production from lactate. Finally, we observed two heterogeneous sets of plasma metabolites with opposite association with species positively and negatively associated with hypoxia parameters, respectively. Interpretation: OSA-related hypoxia, but not the number of apneas/hypopneas, is associated with specific gut microbiota species and functions. Our findings lay the foundation for future research on the gut microbiota-mediated health effects of OSA.
Department/s
- Diabetes - Cardiovascular Disease
- EpiHealth: Epidemiology for Health
- Cardiovascular Research - Epidemiology
- WCMM-Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine
- Heart Failure and Mechanical Support
- Cardiovascular Epigenetics
- Cardiology
- EXODIAB: Excellence of Diabetes Research in Sweden
- Molecular Epidemiology and Cardiology
Publishing year
2023-08
Language
English
Pages
503-516
Publication/Series
Chest
Volume
164
Issue
2
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
American College of Chest Physicians
Topic
- Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems
Keywords
- epidemiology
- microbiota
- OSA
Status
Published
Research group
- Diabetes - Cardiovascular Disease
- Cardiovascular Research - Epidemiology
- Heart Failure and Mechanical Support
- Cardiovascular Epigenetics
- Molecular Epidemiology and Cardiology
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0012-3692