Association of suboptimal health status with intestinal microbiota in Chinese youths

Abstract

Suboptimal health status (SHS) is a physical state between health and disease and is characterized by the symptoms of health complaints, general weakness and low energy within a period of 3 months. 1 A comprehensive Suboptimal Health Status Questionnaire-25 (SHSQ-25) was used to assess SHS, with the SHSQ-25 accounting for the multidimensionality of SHS by assessing the following: (a) fatigue, (b) the cardiovascular system, (c) the digestive tract, (d) the immune system and (e) mental status. 2 To date, the SHSQ-25 has AbstractSuboptimal health status (SHS), a physical state between health and disease, is a subclinical and reversible stage of chronic disease. Previous studies have shown alterations in the intestinal microbiota in patients with some chronic diseases. This study aimed to investigate the association between SHS and intestinal microbiota in a casecontrol study with 50 SHS individuals and 50 matched healthy controls. Intestinal microbiota was analysed by MiSeq 250PE. Alpha diversity of intestinal microbiota in SHS individuals was higher compared with that of healthy controls (Simpson index, W = 2238, P = .048). Beta diversity was different between SHS and healthy controls (P = .018). At the phylum level, the relative abundance of Verrucomicrobia was higher in the SHS group than that in the controls (W = 2201, P = .049). Compared with that of the control group, nine genera were significantly higher and five genera were lower in abundance in the SHS group (all P < .05). The intestinal microbiota, analysed by a random forest model, was able to distinguish individuals with SHS from the controls, with an area under the curve of 0.79 (95% confidence interval: 0.77-0.81). We demonstrated that the alteration of intestinal microbiota occurs with SHS, an early stage of disease, which might shed light on the importance of intestinal microbiota in the primary prevention of noncommunicable chronic diseases. K E Y W O R D S16S rRNA, intestinal microbiota, LEfSe analysis, random forest tree, suboptimal health status

Transcriptomic Characteristics of Suboptimal Health Status: Potential Utility of Novel Biomarkers for Predictive, Preventive, and Personalized Medicine Strategy

“…The SHSQ-25 includes 25 items constituting ve dimensions: the immune system, the cardiovascular system, the respiratory system, fatigue, and mental status [9], and it has been used in Caucasians [10], Africans [4,11], and Asian [6,12]. To screen objectively diagnostic biomarkers for SHS, several biomarkers, including cortisol [13], relative telomere length [14], intestinal microbiota [15], and metabolites [16], have been investigated. Although previous studies have indicated that multi-omics biomarkers have the potential to diagnose SHS individuals, the underlying mechanisms of SHS remain partially understood.…”

Psychological symptoms in Chinese nurses may be associated with predisposition to chronic disease: a cross-sectional study of suboptimal health status

“…Suboptimal health status (SHS) has been recognized globally as a health problem among African, Asian and Caucasian populations [2][3][4][5][6][7]. It is a reversible borderline state between health and disease, characterized by declines in vitality, physiological function, and the capacity for adaptation, and does not meet the diagnostic criteria of any medical conditions but reflects the subclinical and reversible stage of a chronic condition, characterized by the perception of health complaints, general weakness and low energy [8].…”

Association analysis of Suboptimal health Status: a cross-sectional study in China

“…The identification of SHS is the key to preventing the deterioration of an individual’s health status. SHS can reportedly be measured objectively using the microbiome ( Sun et al, 2020 ), telomere length ( Alzain et al, 2017 ), plasma stress hormones ( Yan et al., 2018 ), plasma metabolites ( Wang et al, 2020 ), glycan ( Adua et al., 2019a ; Adua et al., 2019b ; Wang & Tan, 2019 ), ideal cardiovascular health metrics ( Wang et al, 2017 ), and traditional Chinese medicine ( Wang & Yan, 2012 ; Wang, Russell & Yan, 2014 ). However, these objective measures are not easily accessible, and may sometimes not be obvious, especially when people feel uncomfortable and are without abnormal symptoms.…”