Pregnant women with high anxiety and depression symptoms exhibited a richer oral microbiome, according to a recent study.
The study examined the relationship between maternal mental health and the oral microbiome in early pregnancy. The research aimed to explore whether the oral microbiome is associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in pregnant women.
Published in BMJ Mental Health, the study involved 224 women in their second trimester (mean age, 17 ± 2 weeks), with an oversample of those experiencing high stress. Saliva samples were collected from participants, and 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to analyze the oral microbiome. The researchers assessed recent life stress, trait and state anxiety (using the State-Trait Anxiety Index with a clinical cut-off score >40), depression (using the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale with a clinical cut-off score ≥11), and PTSD symptoms. After analysis, participants were grouped as high state anxiety (n=96) versus low (n=126), high trait anxiety (n=122) versus low (n=99), high depression (n=104) versus low (n=118), and high PTSD (n=75) versus low (n=142).
Analysis revealed that the three most abundant bacterial families in the samples were Streptococcaceae (26.2%), Prevotellaceae (20.0%), and Veillonellaceae (12.0%). Results showed significant associations between mental health symptoms and the oral microbiome. Women in the high trait anxiety or depression groups had higher alpha diversity (p < 0.05), indicating greater species richness in their oral microbiome. Conversely, beta diversity differences were observed between groups with high and low PTSD symptoms (weighted UniFrac: F = 2.12, p = 0.037; Bray-Curtis: F = 2.12, p = 0.006), reflecting differences in microbial community composition.
Linear discriminant analysis identified distinct microbial taxa between women with high versus low stress and mental health symptoms. Specifically, Proteobacteria were more abundant in women with high recent life stress, and Spirochaetes were more abundant in those with high depression symptoms. Additionally, the genus Dialister was found in higher abundance in women with high anxiety or depression symptoms, while Eikenella was elevated in women with high trait anxiety, depression, or PTSD symptoms.
Among potential covariates, cigarette smoking and dental problems emerged as significant factors after false discovery rate correction and were included in the permutational multivariate analysis of variance (PERMANOVA) and regression analysis.
These findings suggest that the oral microbiome is associated with maternal mental health during early pregnancy, in ways distinct from the gut microbiome or non-pregnant populations. The study highlights the potential for targeting oral microbiota to improve maternal psychological well-being. Further research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms and clinical implications of these findings.
The research was funded by NIH grant R01HD085990 and a grant from the Michigan State University College of Social Science Faculty Initiative Fund. Full disclosures can be found in the published study.