Changes in the oral and nasal microbiota in pediatric obstructive sleep apnea

Xiaoman Zhang; Xinyi Li; Huajun Xu; Zhihui Fu; Fan Wang; Weijun Huang; Kejia Wu; Chenyang Li; Yupu Liu; Jianyin Zou; Huaming Zhu; Hongliang Yi; Su Kaiming; Meizhen Gu; Jian Guan; Shankai Yin

doi:10.1080/20002297.2023.2182571

Changes in the oral and nasal microbiota in pediatric obstructive sleep apnea

J Oral Microbiol. 2023 Feb 28;15(1):2182571. doi: 10.1080/20002297.2023.2182571. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Xiaoman Zhang¹, Xinyi Li¹, Huajun Xu¹, Zhihui Fu¹, Fan Wang¹, Weijun Huang¹, Kejia Wu¹, Chenyang Li¹, Yupu Liu¹, Jianyin Zou¹, Huaming Zhu¹, Hongliang Yi¹, Su Kaiming¹, Meizhen Gu², Jian Guan¹, Shankai Yin¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery & Shanghai Key Laboratory of Sleep Disordered Breathing & Otolaryngology Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China.
² Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Shanghai Children's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.

Abstract

Background: Several clinical studies have demonstrated that pediatric obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with dysbiosis of airway mucosal microbiota. However, how oral and nasal microbial diversity, composition, and structure are altered in pediatric OSA has not been systemically explored.

Methods: 30 polysomnography-confirmed OSA patients with adenoid hypertrophy, and 30 controls who did not have adenoid hypertrophy, were enrolled. Swabs from four surface oral tissue sites (tongue base, soft palate, both palatine tonsils, and adenoid) and one nasal swab from both anterior nares were collected. The 16S ribosomal RNA (rRNA) V3-V4 region was sequenced to identify the microbial communities.

Results: The beta diversity and microbial profiles were significantly different between pediatric OSA patients and controls at the five upper airway sites. The abundances of Haemophilus, Fusobacterium, and Porphyromonas were higher at adenoid and tonsils sites of pediatric patients with OSA. Functional analysis revealed that the differential pathway between the pediatric OSA patients and controls involved glycerophospholipids and amino acid metabolism.

Conclusions: In this study, the oral and nasal microbiome of pediatric OSA patients exhibited certain differences in composition compared with the controls. However, the microbiota data could be useful as a reference for studies on the upper airway microbiome.

Keywords: 16S ribosomal RNA; Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea; adenoid hypertrophy; microbiota; upper airway.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by grants-in-aid from Ministry of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China (2021ZD0201900; 2021ZD0201901). National Natural Science Foundation of China (82071030, 82071029, 81700896, 81770988, 81970869, 82101205); Innovation Program of Shanghai Municipal Education Commission (2017-01-07-00-02-E00047); Shanghai Shen-Kang Hospital Management Center Project (Grant No. SHDC2020CR2044B, SHDC2020CR3056B); Shanghai Municipal Commission of Science and Technology (Grant No.18DZ2260200).