Evidence mapPaperPMID 40530360Full record

ArticleInternational journal of women's health2025

Retrospective Analysis of Gut Microbiota and Metabolomic Profiles in Pregnant Women: Association with Cesarean Section Risk.

Jing Yuan, Yabing Wang, Lijuan Liu

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Article in International journal of women's health, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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1 citing paper in PubMed.

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Jing Yuan *Anesthesiology and Surgical Department, Zhongshan Campus of the Fourth Hospital of Shijiazhuang, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050000, People's Republic of China.ORCID 0009-0007-2104-030X
Yabing Wang *Obstetrics Department, Shijiazhuang Fourth Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, 050000, People's Republic of China.
Lijuan LiuFamily Planning Service Center Laboratory, Zhangjiakou Chongli District Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Zhangjiakou, Hebei, 075200, People's Republic of China.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: The gut microbiota and metabolic profiles of pregnant women undergo dynamic changes throughout gestation, potentially influencing the mode of delivery. Emerging evidence suggests that dysbiosis of gut microbiota and metabolic perturbations may contribute to the rising cesarean section (CS) rates. This study aimed to investigate gestation-specific alterations in gut microbiota and serum metabolomes and evaluate their association with CS risk. Methods: We conducted a retrospective analysis of 80 healthy pregnant women with singleton pregnancies who delivered at our hospital between January 2022 and December 2023. Participants were stratified into CS (n=40) and vaginal delivery (VD, n=40) groups based on delivery mode, matched for maternal age, pre-pregnancy BMI, and gestational age. Fecal samples were collected one month prior to delivery for gut microbiota analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Serum samples were subjected to targeted metabolomics via UHPLC-QTOF-MS, focusing on markers of energy metabolism. Peripheral blood was analyzed for T cell subsets and regulatory T cells (Tregs) by flow cytometry. Spearman correlation analysis was performed to assess associations between gut microbial taxa and serum metabolites. Results: The CS group exhibited significantly lower gut microbial α-diversity (Shannon index: 3.22 vs 4.10, P<0.001), reduced Bacteroidetes (15.3% vs 20.1%, P=0.021), and increased Firmicutes (50.2% vs 46.4%, P=0.015), resulting in an elevated Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio (P=0.008). Metabolomic analysis showed higher levels of pyruvic acid and lactate and lower levels of phenylalanine in the CS group (all P<0.05). Immune analysis revealed increased CD4⁺ T cells, CD8⁺ T cells, and Tregs in the CS group (P=0.042, 0.029, 0.015, respectively). Correlation analysis indicated that Bacteroidetes abundance positively correlated with lactate (r=0.45, P<0.001), Firmicutes with phenylalanine (r=0.37, P=0.012), and Lactobacillus negatively with pyruvic acid (r=-0.28, P=0.045). Conclusion: Gestational gut microbiota dysbiosis and metabolic dysregulation are significantly associated with increased CS risk. These findings highlight potential biomarkers for early risk stratification and suggest that personalized microbiota-directed interventions during pregnancy might help optimize delivery outcomes. Further mechanistic studies are warranted to validate causality.

Indexed as

biomarkerscesarean sectiondelivery modegut microbiotametabolomicspregnant women

Identifiers

PMID40530360
PMCPMC12170847

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.