Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Jan-Dec;13(1):1-33.
doi: 10.1080/19490976.2021.1884514.

A systematic review of the factors influencing microbial colonization of the preterm infant gut

Miriam Aguilar-Lopez  1 , Andrew M Dinsmoor  1 , Thao T B Ho  2 , Sharon M Donovan  1   3
Affiliations

A systematic review of the factors influencing microbial colonization of the preterm infant gut

Miriam Aguilar-Lopez et al. Gut Microbes. 2021 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Prematurity coupled with the necessary clinical management of preterm (PT) infants introduces multiple factors that can interfere with microbial colonization. This study aimed to review the perinatal, physiological, pharmacological, dietary, and environmental factors associated with gut microbiota of PT infants. A total of 587 articles were retrieved from a search of multiple databases. Sixty studies were included in the review after removing duplicates and articles that did not meet the inclusion criteria. Review of this literature revealed that evidence converged on the effect of postnatal age, mode of delivery, use of antibiotics, and consumption of human milk in the composition of gut microbiota of PT infants. Less evidence was found for associations with race, sex, use of different fortifiers, macronutrients, and other medications. Future studies with rich metadata are needed to further explore the impact of the PT exposome on the development of the microbiota in this high-risk population.

Keywords: Preterm infant; antibiotics; dysbiosis; gut colonization; gut microbiota; human milk; mode of delivery.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
PRISMA flow diagram of search strategy
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Multifactorial colonization of the preterm gut
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hasan N, Yang H.. Factors affecting the composition of the gut microbiota, and its modulation. PeerJ [Internet]. 2019;7:e7502. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31440436 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Deschasaux M, Bouter KE, Prodan A, Levin E, Groen AK, Herrema H, Tremaroli V, Bakker GJ, Attaye I, Pinto-Sietsma S-J, et al. Depicting the composition of gut microbiota in a population with varied ethnic origins but shared geography. Nat Med [Internet]. 2018;24(10):1526–33. doi:10.1038/s41591-018-0160-1. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Stinson LF, Payne MS, Keelan JA, Critical A. Review of the bacterial baptism hypothesis and the impact of cesarean delivery on the infant microbiome. Front Med [Internet]. 2018;5:135. doi:10.3389/fmed.2018.00135. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Stewart CJ, Ajami NJ, O’Brien JL, Hutchinson DS, Smith DP, Wong MC, Ross MC, Lloyd RE, Doddapaneni H, Metcalf GA, et al. Temporal development of the gut microbiome in early childhood from the TEDDY study. Nature [Internet]. 2018;562(7728):583–588. doi:10.1038/s41586-018-0617-x. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rinninella E, Raoul P, Cintoni M, Franceschi F, Miggiano G, Gasbarrini A, Mele M. What is the healthy gut microbiota composition? A changing ecosystem across age, environment, diet, and diseases. Microorganisms [Internet]. 2019;7(1):14. doi:10.3390/microorganisms7010014. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

Substances

LinkOut - more resources