Oral Microbiome Linked to Stress, Mental Health in Pregnant Women

Women with high versus low life stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD had differently abundant microbes

By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 20, 2024 (HealthDay News) — In pregnant women, the oral microbiome is associated with stress and mental health, according to a study published online Nov. 19 in BMJ Mental Health.

Ann M. Alex, Ph.D., from Michigan State University in East Lansing, and colleagues explored a potential oral-brain-behavior axis related to maternal mental health using saliva samples obtained from 224 women in their second trimester oversampled for stress. The association between oralome data and women’s recent or cumulative pregnancy stress, trait and state anxiety, depression symptoms, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms was examined.

The researchers identified higher oral alpha diversity in pregnant women in the high trait anxiety or depression symptom groups, indicating higher richness of species within samples. Beta diversity differed in groups with high and low PTSD symptoms, reflecting differences in community composition. Women with high versus low life stress, anxiety, depression, and PTSD had differently abundant microbes, with the affected microbes mainly differing by symptom. Women with high recent life stress had more abundant members of phylum Proteobacteria, and women with high depression symptoms had more abundant Spirochaetes. In the high trait anxiety and high depression groups, members of phylum Firmicutes were more abundant, while women with high trait or state anxiety or experiencing high depression symptoms had lower genus Dialister; genus Eikenella was elevated with high trait anxiety, depression, or PTSD.

“Our study shows that numerous aspects of the oral microbiome in pregnancy are associated with women’s life stress and mental health,” the authors write.