Key result
Higher gut microbiome diversity is linked to lower carotid-femoral PWV in middle-aged women.
Why the study?
The gut microbiome influences metabolic syndrome and inflammation and is therapeutically modifiable, but arterial stiffness correlates poorly with traditional risk factors.
Is gut microbial diversity associated with lower arterial stiffness in middle-aged women?
Cross-Sectional (n=617)
Is gut microbial diversity associated with lower arterial stiffness in middle-aged women?
Effect estimate: Beta -0.25
p-value: p=1 × 10-4
Gut microbiome diversity is inversely associated with arterial stiffness in women, suggesting a potential novel therapeutic target for arterial aging.
Captured external expert commentary on this paper, strongest first. Original sources are linked where available.
“We know that a substantial proportion of serious cardiovascular events like heart attacks are not explained by traditional risk factors such as obesity and smoking, particularly in younger people and in women and that arterial stiffness is related to risk in those groups. So our results reveal the first observation in humans linking the gut microbes and their products to lower arterial stiffness. It is possible that the gut bacteria can be used to detect risk of heart disease and may be altered by diet or drugs to reduce the risk.”
“There is considerable interest in finding ways to increase the diversity of gut microbes for other conditions such as obesity and diabetes. Our findings now suggest that finding dietary interventions to improve the healthy bacteria in the gut could also be used to reduce the risk of heart disease.”
“Cardiologists really know this. They can clean [up] everything as nicely as they can for a patient, try to optimize everything, and still the progression of cardiovascular disease [occurs]. So, clearly we're missing something. Maybe something we're missing is from the microbiome.”
Higher microbiome diversity linked to lower PWV; hypothesis-generating and should not yet change practice.
Aims: The gut microbiome influences metabolic syndrome (MetS) and inflammation and is therapeutically modifiable. Arterial stiffness is poorly correlated with most traditional risk factors. Our aim was to examine whether gut microbial composition is associated with arterial stiffness. Methods and results: We assessed the correlation between carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV), a measure of arterial stiffness, and gut microbiome composition in 617 middle-aged women from the TwinsUK cohort with concurrent serum metabolomics data. Pulse wave velocity was negatively correlated with gut microbiome alpha diversity (Shannon index, Beta(SE)= -0.25(0.07), P = 1 × 10-4) after adjustment for covariates. We identified seven operational taxonomic units associated with PWV after adjusting for covariates and multiple testing-two belonging to the Ruminococcaceae family. Associations between microbe abundances, microbe diversity, and PWV remained significant after adjustment for levels of gut-derived metabolites (indolepropionate, trimethylamine oxide, and phenylacetylglutamine). We linearly combined the PWV-associated gut microbiome-derived variables and found that microbiome factors explained 8.3% (95% confidence interval 4.3-12.4%) of the variance in PWV. A formal mediation analysis revealed that only a small proportion (5.51%) of the total effect of the gut microbiome on PWV was mediated by insulin resistance and visceral fat, c-reactive protein, and cardiovascular risk factors after adjusting for age, body mass index, and mean arterial pressure. Conclusions: Gut microbiome diversity is inversely associated with arterial stiffness in women. The effect of gut microbiome composition on PWV is only minimally mediated by MetS. This first human observation linking the gut microbiome to arterial stiffness suggests that targeting the microbiome may be a way to treat arterial ageing.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Menni et al. (2018) conducted a cross-sectional in Arterial stiffness (n=617). Gut microbiome diversity was evaluated on Carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) (Beta -0.25, p=1 × 10-4). Gut microbiome alpha diversity was inversely associated with carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity in middle-aged women (Beta -0.25, P=1x10-4).
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: