Characteristics of the Intestinal Microorganisms in Middle-Aged and Elderly Patients: Effects of Smoking

Hai-Tao Yang; Wen-Juan Xiu; Jing-Kun Liu; Yi Yang; Yan-Jun Zhang; Ying-Ying Zheng; Ting-Ting Wu; Xian-Geng Hou; Cheng-Xin Wu; Yi-Tong Ma; Xiang Xie

doi:10.1021/acsomega.1c02120

Characteristics of the Intestinal Microorganisms in Middle-Aged and Elderly Patients: Effects of Smoking

ACS Omega. 2022 Jan 5;7(2):1628-1638. doi: 10.1021/acsomega.1c02120. eCollection 2022 Jan 18.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
² Department of Oncology, First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi 830011, China.
³ Department of Cardiology Fourth Ward, Xinjiang Medical University Affiliated Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Urumqi 830011, China.
⁴ Department of Clinical Research Center, People's Hospital of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Urumqi 830000, China.
⁵ Department of Cardiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University, Key Laboratory of Cardiac Injury and Repair of Henan Province, Zhengzhou 450002, China.

Abstract

Introduction: Smoking affects the occurrence and development of many diseases. We attempt to study the structure of intestinal flora in the middle-aged and elderly population as well as how smoking affects the intestinal flora. Methods: We collected population information, biochemical indicators, and patient feces from 188 middle-aged and elderly male patients, and their feces were tested for the 16S rRNA gene of intestinal flora. Results: We performed a cluster analysis on the intestinal structure of the included population and found that there was a significant difference in the number of smokers between each group (p = 0.011). Subsequently, the microbiological diversity analysis of current smokers and nonsmokers was carried out. The results indicated that there was a significant difference in species composition between the two groups (p = 0.029). Through the analysis on LEfSe differential bacteria, it was found that in current smoking patients, the abundances of the genus Bifidobacterium and the genus Coprobacillus were less, while the abundances of the genera Shigella, Paraprevotella, Burkholderia, Sutterella, Megamonas, and p-75-a5 under the family level of Erysipelotrichaceae were slightly high. We analyzed the correlation between the abundances of these eight different bacteria and clinical indicators. The results revealed the following: the abundance of the genus Bifidobacterium was negatively correlated with fasting blood glucose (r = -0.198, p = 0.006) and positively correlated with uric acid (r = 0.207, p = 0.004) and total bilirubin (r = 0.175, p = 0.017); Shigella bacteria were positively correlated with fasting blood glucose (r = 0.160, p = 0.028) and uric acid (r = 0.153, p = 0.036) levels; the genus Paraprevotella and BMI (r = -0.172, p = 0.018) are negatively correlated; the abundance of the genus Burkholderia was positively correlated with γ-glutamyltransferase (r = 0.146, p = 0.045) levels; Sutterella was correlated with fasting blood glucose (r = 0.143, p = 0.05) and creatinine level (r = -0.16, p = 0.027), which was positively correlated with fasting blood glucose and negatively correlated with creatinine. Conclusions: In middle-aged and elderly patients with cardiovascular disease, smoking can reduce the abundance of Bifidobacterium, while the abundances of some negative bacteria such as Burkholderia, Sutterella, and Megamonas increase.