Comparison of the gut microbiota of short-term and long-term medical workers and non-medical controls: a cross-sectional analysis

Abstract

Objectives: The hospital environment has been implicated in the enrichment and exchange of pathogens and antibiotic resistance, but its potential in shaping the symbiotic microbial community of hospital staff is unclear. This study was designed to evaluate the alteration of the gut microbiome in medical workers compared to non-medical controls.

Methods: A prospective cross-sectional cohort study was conducted in the intensive care unit (ICU) and other departments of a centre in north-eastern China. Faecal samples of 175 healthy medical workers-short-term (1-3 months) workers (n = 80) and long-term (>1 year) workers (n = 95)-and 80 healthy non-medical controls were analysed using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The hospital environmental samples (n = 9) were also analysed.

Results: The gut microbiomes of medical workers exhibited marked deviations in diversity and alteration in microbial composition and function. Short-term workers showed significantly higher abundances of taxa such as Lactobacillus, Butyrivibrio, Clostridiaceae, Clostridium, Ruminococcus, Dialister, Bifidobacterium, Odoribacter, and Desulfovibrio and lower abundances of Bacteroides and Blautia than the controls. Long-term workers showed higher abundances of taxa such as Dialister, Veillonella, Clostridiaceae, Clostridium, Bilophila, Desulfovibrio, Pseudomonas, and Akkermansia and lower abundances of Bacteroides and Coprococcus than the controls. The medical workers' department (ICU versus non-ICU) and position (resident doctor versus nursing staff) also impacted their gut microbiome. Compared with the non-ICU workers, workers in the ICU showed a significant increase in the abundances of Dialister, Enterobacteriaceae, Phascolarctobacterium, Pseudomonas, Veillonella, and Streptococcus and a marked depletion of Faecalibacterium, Blautia, and Coprococcus. In contrast with the nursing staff, the resident doctors showed a significant increase in Erysipelotrichaceae and Clostridium and a decrease in Bacteroides, Blautia, and Ruminococcus in the gut microbiome. Moreover, we found that the microbiota of hospital environments potentially correlated with the workers' gut microbiota.

Conclusions: Our findings demonstrated structural changes in the gut microbial community of medical workers.

Keywords: 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing; Gut microbiome; Intensive care unit; Medical worker; Microbial dysbiosis.