Airway Microbiota Profiles in Children With and Without Asthma: A Comparative Study

• DOI: 10.2147/jaa.s498803
• Publication Date: 2025-03-05T08:05:11Z
• Authors: Aisha Alamri; Meshal Alhassan; Abdullah Almutairi; Nithya Jayaseeli; Rebecca Berg; Christen Rune Ste...; Lee Andersen; Henrik Nielsen; Suzan AlKhater

Asthma is a common chronic respiratory disease that affects children and adults can have serious impact on their quality of life. Factors contributing to the development asthma related exacerbations are multifactorial, with microbial communities colonizing airways possibly playing key role. The study included asthmatic (79) healthy (57) aged 5-16 years. Nasal throat swabs were collected, bacterial (16s rRNA) fungal (18s amplicon sequence analysis was performed. Diversity indices most abundant genera estimated accordingly. At level bacteriome in nasal samples, group had significantly lower diversity than control (p = 0.02). However, microbiota cohort more evenly distributed, staphylococci enriched group. Throat samples collected from revealed < 0.0001), significant difference species composition between two groups 0.005). Enriched different within subgroups (controlled vs uncontrolled asthma). microbiome showed no richness groups, however, beta (species composition) detected. Malassezia species, while cases Mucor species. On other hand, specimens found be Candida Saccharomyces. Our findings suggest less diverse certain enriching some groups. Addressing biomarkers influence progression could lead improved care for suffering severe episodes, by including targeted therapies prevention strategies.