Very preterm gut microbiota development from the first week of life to 3.5 years of age: a prospective longitudinal multicenter study.

ABSTRACT: This study analyzed the longitudinal evolution of intestinal microbiota in very preterm neonates (PN) during and after their hospitalization. The bacterial 16S rRNA gene sequencing approach was applied for the analysis of fecal samples (n = 1,307) from 596 PN. Samples were collected at one week after birth, at one month, at the neonatal intensive care unit discharge, and at 3.5 years of age. Over time, the intestinal microbiota of the infants matured progressively, with increasing alpha diversity and decreasing beta diversity. Based on a Dirichlet multinomial mixture clustering approach (DMM), during hospitalization, infants progressed among ten different clusters. At 3.5 years of age, only three clusters were identified. The influence of the gestational age, the neonatal antibiotic

SUBMITTER: Toubon G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11960047 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature