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Gut microbiota composition is altered in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and post-acute COVID-19 syndrome

Hamrefors, Viktor LU orcid ; Kahn, Fredrik LU ; Holmqvist, Madlene LU ; Carlson, Katherine LU ; Varjus, Roosa ; Gudjonsson, Alexander ; Fedorowski, Artur LU orcid and Ohlsson, Bodil LU (2024) In Scientific Reports 14(1).
Abstract

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) reflects an autonomic dysfunction, which can occur as a complication to COVID-19. Our aim was to examine gastrointestinal symptoms and gut microbiota composition in patients with POTS and post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), compared with controls. POTS patients (n = 27), PACS patients (n = 32) and controls (n = 39) delivered fecal samples and completed a 4-day food diary, irritable bowel syndrome-severity scoring system (IBS-SSS), and visual analog scale for IBS (VAS-IBS). A total of 98 DNA aliquots were sequenced to an average depth of 28.3 million (M) read pairs (Illumina 2 × 150 PE) per sample. Diversity and taxonomic levels of the microbiome, as well as functional abundances were... (More)

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) reflects an autonomic dysfunction, which can occur as a complication to COVID-19. Our aim was to examine gastrointestinal symptoms and gut microbiota composition in patients with POTS and post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), compared with controls. POTS patients (n = 27), PACS patients (n = 32) and controls (n = 39) delivered fecal samples and completed a 4-day food diary, irritable bowel syndrome-severity scoring system (IBS-SSS), and visual analog scale for IBS (VAS-IBS). A total of 98 DNA aliquots were sequenced to an average depth of 28.3 million (M) read pairs (Illumina 2 × 150 PE) per sample. Diversity and taxonomic levels of the microbiome, as well as functional abundances were calculated for POTS and PACS groups, then compared with controls. There were several differences in taxonomic composition between POTS and controls, whereas only the abundance of Ascomycota and Firmicutes differed between PACS and controls. The clinical variables total IBS-SSS, fatigue, and bloating and flatulence significantly correlated with multiple individual taxa abundances, alpha diversity, and functional abundances. We conclude that POTS, and to a less extent PACS, are associated with differences in gut microbiota composition in diversity and at several taxonomic levels. Clinical symptoms are correlated with both alpha diversity and taxonomic and functional abundances.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Scientific Reports
volume
14
issue
1
article number
3389
publisher
Nature Publishing Group
external identifiers
  • scopus:85184788841
  • pmid:38336892
ISSN
2045-2322
DOI
10.1038/s41598-024-53784-9
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
© 2024. The Author(s).
id
9d6766de-a1b7-4bf3-90e2-24d579004a2e
date added to LUP
2024-02-12 12:43:44
date last changed
2024-04-20 04:57:32
@article{9d6766de-a1b7-4bf3-90e2-24d579004a2e,
  abstract     = {{<p>Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) reflects an autonomic dysfunction, which can occur as a complication to COVID-19. Our aim was to examine gastrointestinal symptoms and gut microbiota composition in patients with POTS and post-acute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), compared with controls. POTS patients (n = 27), PACS patients (n = 32) and controls (n = 39) delivered fecal samples and completed a 4-day food diary, irritable bowel syndrome-severity scoring system (IBS-SSS), and visual analog scale for IBS (VAS-IBS). A total of 98 DNA aliquots were sequenced to an average depth of 28.3 million (M) read pairs (Illumina 2 × 150 PE) per sample. Diversity and taxonomic levels of the microbiome, as well as functional abundances were calculated for POTS and PACS groups, then compared with controls. There were several differences in taxonomic composition between POTS and controls, whereas only the abundance of Ascomycota and Firmicutes differed between PACS and controls. The clinical variables total IBS-SSS, fatigue, and bloating and flatulence significantly correlated with multiple individual taxa abundances, alpha diversity, and functional abundances. We conclude that POTS, and to a less extent PACS, are associated with differences in gut microbiota composition in diversity and at several taxonomic levels. Clinical symptoms are correlated with both alpha diversity and taxonomic and functional abundances.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hamrefors, Viktor and Kahn, Fredrik and Holmqvist, Madlene and Carlson, Katherine and Varjus, Roosa and Gudjonsson, Alexander and Fedorowski, Artur and Ohlsson, Bodil}},
  issn         = {{2045-2322}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{02}},
  number       = {{1}},
  publisher    = {{Nature Publishing Group}},
  series       = {{Scientific Reports}},
  title        = {{Gut microbiota composition is altered in postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and post-acute COVID-19 syndrome}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-53784-9}},
  doi          = {{10.1038/s41598-024-53784-9}},
  volume       = {{14}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}