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Livestock farming affected the airway microbiome of COPD patients

Presented by
Mr Warner van Kersen, Utrecht University, the Netherlands
Conference
ERS 2021
Intensive livestock production has been associated with health risks. Exposure to livestock farm emissions may lead to poor outcomes. The current study showed that residential exposure to livestock-emitted endotoxin was linked to increased species richness in COPD patients.

Living in a livestock-dense area has been associated with adverse health effects. Especially COPD patients may suffer from complications when living close to livestock. Livestock farm emissions involve excretion of gases, like endotoxin, which could be harmful to health. Mr Warner van Kersen (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) investigated whether livestock affects the airway microbiome of COPD patients [1]. In his study, the airway microbiome of COPD patients was compared with the microbiome of healthy controls.

Oropharyngeal swabs were taken from 283 participants (99 cases, 184 controls) in a livestock-dense area in the Southeast of the Netherlands at baseline, week 6, and week 12. Participants were non- or former smokers, and had not used antibiotics in the month prior to sampling. Cases differed from controls in age (P<0.001), years of smoking (P=0.001), use of lung medication (P<0.001), and use of antibiotics (P<0.002). Accordingly, oropharyngeal microbiota samples were analysed using 16S rRNA sequencing and the DADA2 pipeline.

Most samples were dominated by the bacteria Streptococcaceae and Veillonellaceae. No difference in species richness was observed for cases versus controls. However, an increased species richness was seen for atopy (β=7.02; 95% CI 1.25–12.78), medium versus low education level (β=6.67; 95% CI 0.001–13.33), and livestock-emitted endotoxin exposure (β=20.07; 95% CI 1.57–38.56). When data was stratified for cases versus controls, effects were only present in the cases group (see Table). No effect was seen of case-control status on microbiome composition, although a small gender effect was observed.

Table: Observed richness in cases and controls [1]



Abbreviations: NA, not applicable. Significant variables in bold.

To investigate the stability of the oropharyngeal microbiome over time, 20 randomly selected participants were evaluated over the course of 3 timepoints. Individual patterns over time could be distinguished, indicating stable differences between individuals.

In conclusion, an increase in species richness in COPD patients was associated with residential exposure to livestock-emitted endotoxin. Oropharyngeal microbiota in COPD patients and controls were relatively stable over a 12-week period, indicating that a single sample is representative for the individual oropharyngeal microbiota in COPD cases and healthy controls. Future analysis should include a multivariable analysis to evaluate independent drivers.

  1. Van Kersen W, et al. The oropharyngeal microbiome of COPD patients and controls in a livestock dense area. Abstract 99. ERS 2021, 5–8 September.

 

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