ArticleJournal of affective disorders2022
Stressful events induce long-term gut microbiota dysbiosis and associated post-traumatic stress symptoms in healthcare workers fighting against COVID-19.
Article in Journal of affective disorders, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 84 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gut microbiome differences in individuals with PTSD compared to trauma-exposed controls: a systematic review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Pooled it
- The interactions between host genome and gut microbiome increase the risk of psychiatric disorders: Mendelian randomization and biological annotation.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2023Pooled it
- Work-Influenced Circadian Disruption Connected to Disease Risk but Not Microbiomes in a Cohort of Philadelphia Nurses.American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · 2026Article
- Neonatal predictors of neurodevelopment: the interplay between APGAR score and neonatal microbiome.Irish journal of medical science · 2026Review
- Study on the Gut-Brain Mechanism of Escitalopram for Alleviating Symptoms of Disorders of Gut-Brain Interaction in the Elderly-A Cohort Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- From alpha diversity to zeitgebers: Bacterial gut microbiome associations with sleep and circadian disruption (Part I).Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2026Review
- Age-specific alterations in gut microbiota-plasma metabolome networks in first-episode, drug-naïve major depressive disorder: adolescent versus adult patients.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Intestinal microbiome gone native: gut microbiome shift and resistome diversity in first homecoming giant panda family.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- The role of gut microbiome in the pathophysiology of PTSD, depression, and anxiety disorders.Gut microbes reports · 2026Review
- Gut Microbiota-Driven Pathways Linking Chronic Stress to Tumor Progression.International journal of biological sciences · 2026Review
- Impact of a Lifestyle Intervention on Gut Microbiome Composition: A Quasi-Controlled Before-and-After Analysis.Metabolites · 2025Article
- Red meat consumption in higher healthy eating index diets is associated with brain health critical nutritional adequacy, and fecal microbial diversity.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Multi-omics analysis of gut-organ axes reveals the high-altitude adaptation in Tibetan chicken.iMetaOmics · 2025Article
- The Gut Microbiome and Colorectal Cancer: An Integrative Review of the Underlying Mechanisms.Cell biochemistry and biophysics · 2025Review
- Unstable pathogen profile in spotted seal (Phoca largha) gut microbiota and limited turnover with habitat microbiome.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2025Article
- Probiotics as a Treatment of Chronic Stress Associated Abnormalities.Probiotics and antimicrobial proteins · 2025Review
- Allostatic load and cancer risk, progression, and mortality in epidemiologic studies.American journal of epidemiology · 2025Article
- The Gut Microbiome in Anxiety Disorders.Current psychiatry reports · 2025Review
- Association of cholecystectomy with short-term and long-term risks of depression and suicide.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Free and Easy Wanderer Ameliorates Intestinal Bloating-Dependent Avoidance Behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans Through Gut-Germline-Neural Signaling.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
20 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveThe microbiota-gut-brain axis is a key pathway perturbed by prolonged stressors to produce brain and behavioral disorders. Frontline healthcare workers (FHWs) fighting against COVID-19 typically experience stressful event sequences and manifest some mental symptoms; however, the role of gut microbiota in such stress-induced mental problems remains unclear. We investigated the association between the psychological stress of FHW and gut microbiota.
methodsWe used full-length 16S rRNA gene sequencing to characterize the longitudinal changes in gut microbiota and investigated the impact of microbial changes on FHWs' mental status.
resultsStressful events induced significant depression, anxiety, and stress in FHWs and disrupted the gut microbiome; gut dysbiosis persisted for at least half a year. Different microbes followed discrete trajectories during the half-year of follow-up. Microbes associated with mental health were mainly Faecalibacterium spp. and [Eubacterium] eligens group spp. with anti-inflammatory effects. Of note, the prediction model indicated that low abundance of [Eubacterium] hallii group uncultured bacterium and high abundance of Bacteroides eggerthii at Day 0 (immediately after the two-month frontline work) were significant determinants of the reappearance of post-traumatic stress symptoms in FHWs. LIMITATIONS: The lack of metabolomic evidence and animal experiments result in the unclear mechanism of gut dysbiosis-related stress symptoms.
conclusionThe stressful event sequences of fighting against COVID-19 induce characteristic longitudinal changes in gut microbiota, which underlies dynamic mental state changes.
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Registered trials
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 OpenQuestion graph.