Impact of HbA1c control and type 2 diabetes mellitus exposure on the oral microbiome profile in the elderly population

ABSTRACT

Objective

To investigate the associations of the oral microbiome status with diabetes characteristics in elderly patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods

A questionnaire was used to assess age, sex, smoking status, drinking status, flossing frequency, T2DM duration and complications, and a blood test was used to determine the glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) level. Sequencing of the V3-V4 region of the 16S rRNA gene from saliva samples was used to analyze the oral microbiome.

Results

Differential analysis revealed that Streptococcus and Weissella were significantly enriched in the late-stage group, and Capnocytophaga was significantly enriched in the early-stage group. Correlation analysis revealed that diabetes duration was positively correlated with the abundance of Streptococcus (r= 0.369, p= 0.007) and negatively correlated with the abundance of Cardiobacterium (r= -0.337, p= 0.014), and the level of HbA1c was not significantly correlated with the oral microbiome. Network analysis suggested that the poor control group had a more complex microbial network than the control group, a pattern that was similar for diabetes duration. In addition, Streptococcus has a low correlation with other microorganisms.

Conclusion

In elderly individuals, Streptococcus emerges as a potential biomarker linked to diabetes, exhibiting elevated abundance in diabetic patients influenced by disease exposure and limited bacterial interactions.

KEYWORDS:

• Elderly individuals
• type 2 diabetes mellitus
• oral microbiome
• glycated haemoglobin
• diabetes duration

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to express their utmost gratitude to all participants who willingly took the time to participate in the study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Xin Zeng: Formal Analysis(lead); Data Curation(equal); Writing – Original Draft Preparation(lead); Writing – Review & Editing(equal); Visualization(supporting). Shuqi Huang: Conceptualization (supporting); Methodology(lead); Data Curation(equal); Formal Analysis(supporting); Writing – Review & Editing(equal), Project Administration(supporting). Xin Ye, Siping Song, Jing He and Liwei Hu: Methodology(supporting); Investigation(equal); Writing – Review & Editing(equal). Sicheng Deng: Visualization(lead); Writing – Review & Editing(equal). Fan Liu: Conceptualization(lead); Project Administration(lead); Supervision(lead); Writing – Review & Editing(equal).

All authors read and approved the final submitted version and agreed to be accountable for the report. All authors confirm that they had full access to all the data in the study and vouch for the integrity of the study.

Ethics approval

The study was performed according to the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee of West China Hospital of Stomatology Sichuan University with approval number: WCHSIRB-D-2022-291.

Patient consent

All participants signed an informed consent form.

Data availability statement

The original contributions presented in the study are included in the article, further inquiries can be directed to the corresponding authors.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/20002297.2024.2345942

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.