Altered early-life gut microbiota in offspring of pregnancies complicated by CHD-associated pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a progressive disease involving the pulmonary vasculature and is defined as a mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) >20 mmHg at rest. Pulmonary arterial hypertension during pregnancy is associated with increased maternal mortality and adverse fetal outcomes. The present study aimed to investigate differences in the initial meconium microbiota between neonates born to mothers with congenital heart disease-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension (CHD-PAH) and those born to mothers with congenital heart disease (CHD) alone, thereby elucidating the potential influence of pulmonary arterial hypertension on the establishment of the early-life gut microbiome. Methods: We collected first-pass meconium samples from neonates in the pulmonary hypertension group (PH group, Results: The PH group showed lower alpha diversity, with reduced Shannon and observed features indices (both Conclusion: Collectively, these findings extend current evidence on PAH-related alterations in early-life microbial ecosystems and provide a plausible microbiome-based basis for investigating the biological mechanisms underlying adverse maternal-fetal outcomes associated with pulmonary arterial hypertension.