Gut Microbiome, Malaria Prevention in Pregnancy and Maternal Health Indices among Pregnant Women in Cape Coast

Abstract

Gut microbiome during pregnancy offers a ‘modulatable’ organ to influence pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes. It is as unique at the individual level as it is in the third trimester of gestation. It affects and is affected by hormones, host metabolism and host immunity. Given the enormous changes associated with pregnancy, the gut microbiome structure oscillates between different states, resulting in normal pregnancy and a potential for pathogenic infections and unhealthy outcomes. The study sought to characterize the gut microbiome peculiar to third trimester of gestation and how it relates with IPTp-SP usage and other maternal health indices. Next generation 16S rRNA sequencing techniques were employed to sequence extracted DNA from stool of 22 healthy pregnant women in Cape Coast. Sequences were profiled on the QIIME platform to identify and classify bacterial taxa. Bacterial relative abundances and associations with gestational BMI, IPTp-SP, and deworming status were analysed with several statistical tests using the open-source R software for statistical analysis. The study reports a widely diverse gut bacterial structure with a predominance of Actinobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes and Proteobacteria phyla, and genera Bacteroides and Faecalibacterium. Three or more doses of [sulfadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP)] were significantly associated with increased gut bacterial diversity (P = 0.031, Kruskal-Wallis) whilst neither gestational BMI nor deworming status influenced bacterial gut diversity (P > 0.05). Gut microbiome in the third trimester of gestation is widely diverse and is associated with number of doses of SP taken.