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
. 2025 May 17;23(1):557.
doi: 10.1186/s12967-025-06553-9.

Association between oral microbiome diversity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the US population

Xian-Xin Xia  1 , Chuan-Xiang Li  1 , Hong-Rong Guo  2
Affiliations

Association between oral microbiome diversity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in the US population

Xian-Xin Xia et al. J Transl Med. .

Abstract

Background: There is a dearth of population-based studies on the association between the diversity of the oral microbiome and the risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The study aims to investigate the association between oral microbiome diversity and COPD.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2009-2012) were analyzed. The association between the oral microbiome α-diversity and COPD risk was examined via multivariable logistic regression, with Restricted cubic splines revealing potential non-linear trends. The β-diversity disparities between COPD and non-COPD groups were delineated using Principal Coordinate Analysis (PCoA) and Permutational Multivariate Analysis of Variance (PERMANOVA).

Results: A total of 6061 participants were included in this study. For α-diversity, the observed ASVs were significantly associated with COPD risk (OR = 0.964, 95%CI: 0.936-0.993, P = 0.016). Similarly, Faith's phylogenetic Diversity showed a significant association with COPD risk (OR = 0.955, 95%CI: 0.919-0.993, P = 0.020). The Shannon-Weiner index was also associated with COPD risk (OR = 0.829, 95%CI: 0.702-0.981, P = 0.029). For β-diversity, PCoA and PERMANOVA analysis showed statistically significant differences in Bray-Curtis, unweighted, and weighted UniFrac distances (all P < 0.01) between the COPD and non-COPD groups.

Conclusions: Significant differences in oral microbiome α-diversity and β-diversity were found between COPD and non-COPD populations, with α-diversity (observed ASVs, Faith's Phylogenetic Diversity, Shannon-Weiner index) being negatively associated with the risk of COPD.

Keywords: COPD; Diversity; NHANES; Oral microbiome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Approval was granted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) Research Ethics Review Board. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flowchart for participant selection
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Restricted cubic spline curves between alpha diversity metrics and COPD risk, a observed ASVs; b Faith’s Phylogenetic Diversity; c Shannon-Weiner index; d Simpson Index
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Comparison of oral microbial beta diversity in COPD and non-COPD populations, a Bray–Curtis dissimilarity; b unweighted UniFrac distance; c weighted UniFrac distance
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Agustí A, Celli BR, Criner GJ, Halpin D, Anzueto A, Barnes P, et al. Global initiative for chronic obstructive lung disease 2023 report: GOLD executive summary. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2023; - PMC - PubMed
    1. Greene CM, Marciniak SJ, Teckman J, Ferrarotti I, Brantly ML, Lomas DA, et al. α1-Antitrypsin deficiency. Nat Rev Dis Primer. 2016;2:16051. - PubMed
    1. DeMeo DL, Ramagopalan S, Kavati A, Vegesna A, Han MK, Yadao A, et al. Women manifest more severe COPD symptoms across the life course. Int J Chron Obstruct Pulmon Dis. 2018;13:3021–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Townend J, Minelli C, Mortimer K, Obaseki DO, Al Ghobain M, Cherkaski H, et al. The association between chronic airflow obstruction and poverty in 12 sites of the multinational BOLD study. Eur Respir J. 2017;49:1601880. - PubMed
    1. McGeachie MJ, Yates KP, Zhou X, Guo F, Sternberg AL, Van Natta ML, et al. Patterns of growth and decline in lung function in persistent childhood asthma. N Engl J Med. 2016;374:1842–52. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources