Changes in the nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal microbiota in pediatric obstructive sleep apnea before and after surgery: a prospective study

Objective To explore the changes and potential mechanisms of microbiome in different parts of the upper airway in the development of pediatric OSA and observe the impact of surgical intervention on oral microbiome for pediatric OSA.

Methods Before adeno-tonsillectomy, we collected throat swab samples from different parts of the oropharynx and nasopharynx of 30 OSA patients and 10 non-OSA patients and collected throat swab samples from the oropharynx of the above patients one month after the adeno-tonsillectomy.

The 16 S rRNA V3–V4 region was sequenced to identify the microbial communities.

The correlation analysis was conducted based on clinical characteristics.

Results There was a significant difference of alpha diversity in different parts of the upper airway of pediatric OSA, but this difference was not found in children with non-OSA.

Beta diversity was significantly different between non-OSA and pediatric OSA.

At the genus level, the composition of flora in different parts is different between non-OSA and pediatric OSA.

The correlation analysis revealed that the relative abundance of Neisseria was significantly correlated with obstructive apnea hypopnea index.

Furthermore, the functional prediction revealed that pathways related to cell proliferation and material metabolism were significantly different between non-OSA and pediatric OSA.

Besides, the adeno-tonsillectomy has minimal impact on oral microbiota composition in short term.

Conclusion The changes in upper airway microbiome are highly associated with pediatric OSA.

The relative abundance of some bacteria was significantly different between OSA and non-OSA.

These bacteria have the potential to become new diagnostic and early warning biomarkers.