Household Pet Ownership and the Microbial Diversity of the Human Gut Microbiota

Kates, Ashley E.; Jarrett, Omar; Skarlupka, Joseph H.; Sethi, Ajay K.; Duster, Megan; Watson, Lauren; Suen, Garret; Poulsen, Keith P.; Safdar, Nasia

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2020.00073

Cited by 48 publications

(28 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…Dog owners have been found to share skin microbiota with their pets, and ownership of household pets including dogs and cats has been suggested to be associated with differences in the gut flora of the owner. 45 46 A recent study also reported a large influence of diet on the gut microbiota of dogs. 47 It is thus possible that shared microbial communities could influence both owner and dog health, and also that shared dietary and physical activity patterns could affect gut microbiota in dog owners and their pets in a similar fashion.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…A potential partial explanation for our findings could be shared microbiota influencing diabetes risk in both owners and their pets. Dog owners have been found to share skin microbiota with their pets, and ownership of household pets including dogs and cats has been suggested to be associated with differences in the gut flora of the owner 4546. A recent study also reported a large influence of diet on the gut microbiota of dogs 47.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The shared risk of diabetes between dog and cat owners and their pets: register based cohort study

Delicano

Hammar

Egenvall

et al. 2020

BMJ

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Objective To investigate whether dog and cat owners and their pets share a risk of developing diabetes. Design Cohort study. Setting Register based longitudinal study, Sweden. Participants 208 980 owner-dog pairs and 123 566 owner-cat pairs identified during a baseline assessment period (1 January 2004 to 31 December 2006). Main outcome measures Type 2 diabetes events in dog and cat owners and diabetes events in their pets, including date of diagnosis during the follow-up period (1 January 2007 to 31 December 2012). Owners with type 2 diabetes were identified by combining information from the National Patient Register, the Cause of Death Register, and the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Information on diabetes in the pets was extracted from veterinary care insurance data. Multi-state models were used to assess the hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals and to adjust for possible shared risk factors, including personal and socioeconomic circumstances. Results The incidence of type 2 diabetes during follow-up was 7.7 cases per 1000 person years at risk in dog owners and 7.9 cases per 1000 person years at risk in cat owners. The incidence of diabetes in the pets was 1.3 cases per 1000 dog years at risk and 2.2 cases per 1000 cat years at risk. The crude hazard ratio for type 2 diabetes in owners of a dog with diabetes compared with owners of a dog without diabetes was 1.38 (95% confidence interval 1.10 to 1.74), with a multivariable adjusted hazard ratio of 1.32 (1.04 to 1.68). Having an owner with type 2 diabetes was associated with an increased hazard of diabetes in the dog (crude hazard ratio 1.28, 1.01 to 1.63), which was attenuated after adjusting for owner’s age, with the confidence interval crossing the null (1.11, 0.87 to 1.42). No association was found between type 2 diabetes in cat owners and diabetes in their cats (crude hazard ratio 0.99, 0.74 to 1.34, and 1.00, 0.78 to 1.28, respectively). Conclusions Data indicated that owners of a dog with diabetes were more likely to develop type 2 diabetes during follow-up than owners of a dog without diabetes. It is possible that dogs with diabetes could serve as a sentinel for shared diabetogenic health behaviours and environmental exposures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The shared risk of diabetes between dog and cat owners and their pets: register based cohort study

Delicano

Hammar

Egenvall

et al. 2020

BMJ

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“…The pandemic has increased alcohol consumption and smoking habits ( 38 ), in populations—both known to modulate the oral, lung, and gut microbiota ( 39 , 40 ). A more unexpected result of the pandemic is the increase in pet ownership, which in itself can impact on the human gut microbiome ( 41 ).…”

Section: Indirect Effects Of Pandemic On An Individual or Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The pandemic has also been reported to alter sleeping patterns and quality ( 44 ), which in turn can negatively affect mood, stress, and anxiety. Additionally, the circadian rhythm is known to have a bidirectional relationship with the gut microbiome—disturbances in the gut microbiome can affect sleep regulation ( 41 ), and disturbances in circadian rhythms can alter the gut microbiome ( 45 ). This relationship has in fact been proposed as the mechanistic link between sleep disruption and metabolic syndrome, which can lead to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer ( 45 ).…”

Section: Indirect Effects Of Pandemic On An Individual or Populationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Unique Impact of COVID-19 on Human Gut Microbiome Research

et al. 2021

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The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has disrupted clinical trials globally, with unique implications for research into the human gut microbiome. In this mini-review, we explore the direct and indirect influences of the pandemic on the gut microbiome and how these can affect research and clinical trials. We explore the direct bidirectional relationships between the COVID-19 virus and the gut and lung microbiomes. We then consider the significant indirect effects of the pandemic, such as repeated lockdowns, increased hand hygiene, and changes to mood and diet, that could all lead to longstanding changes to the gut microbiome at an individual and a population level. Together, these changes may affect long term microbiome research, both in observational as well as in population studies, requiring urgent attention. Finally, we explore the unique implications for clinical trials using faecal microbiota transplants (FMT), which are increasingly investigated as potential treatments for a range of diseases. The pandemic introduces new barriers to participation in trials, while the direct and indirect effects laid out above can present a confounding factor. This affects recruitment and sample size, as well as study design and statistical analyses. Therefore, the potential impact of the pandemic on gut microbiome research is significant and needs to be specifically addressed by the research community and funders.

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“… 13 14 The Wisconsin Microbiome Ancillary Study in children and adults demonstrated the role of xenobiotics and other settings in shaping the human gut microbiome and increased risk for MDRO colonization. 53 – 55 This represents an important and novel area for metabolic, aging and population health research.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) Program: An infrastructure for Advancing Population Health Sciences

Malecki

Nikodémová

Schultz

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Purpose: The Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) was established in 2008 by the University of Wisconsin (UW) School of Medicine and Public Health (SMPH) within the Department of Population Health Sciences with the goals of 1) providing a timely and accurate picture of the health of the state residents; and 2) serving as an agile resource infrastructure for ancillary studies. Today SHOW continues to serve as a vital population health research infrastructure supporting studies examining interactions of multiple social determinants of health in the prevalence and etiology of multiple chronic diseases across the life-course. Detailed questionnaire, physical exam and wearable data combined with an extensive biorepository supports translational and multi-omics research to better understand how life experiences and exposures contribute to health disparities and aging processes in a diverse urban and rural population. Participants: SHOW currently includes 5,846 adult and 980 minor participants recruited between 2008-2019 in four primary waves. WAVE I (2008-2013) includes annual statewide representative samples of 3,380 adults ages 21 to 74 years. WAVE II (2014-2016) is a triannual statewide sample of 1957 adults age 18 years and over, and 645 children residing in 10 randomly selected counties. WAVE III (2017) consists of follow-up of 725 adults from the WAVE I and baseline interviews of 222 children in selected households. WAVES II and III include stool samples collected as part of an ancillary study in a subset of 784 individuals. WAVE IV includes geographically focused samples recruited from Milwaukee county, WI, focusing on recruitment of traditionally under-represented populations in biomedical research including African Americans and Hispanics. The WAVE IV samples consist of 517 adults and 113 children. Findings to Date: The ongoing cohort is geographically, racially and metabolically diverse. The core study provides applied public health practitioners data for monitoring population health and policy development. Blood, urine and DNA, along with questionnaire data, were collected in all WAVES. WAVES II - IV include accelerometry-based physical activity and sleep, and expanded biomarkers to whole blood RNA collection with ancillary support of microbiome samples in a subset. Over 59 publications have been written and cover a broad range of topics including the impacts of altered metabolic health on chronic disease prevalence, urban and rural disparities in food security and cardio-metabolic disease, differential impacts of smoking on gene expression among obese and non-obese and lead exposures associate with increased multi-drug resistance and altered gut dysbiosis. Future Plans: The SHOW cohort is available for continued longitudinal follow-up including biospecimen collection for advancing novel biomarker and microbiome research. During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, SHOW is maintaining the cohort through web-based surveys of health impacts and conducting serological antibody testing among WAVE II and WAVE IV participants. The biorepository includes over 210,000 DNA, plasma, serum, urine, whole blood DNA, whole blood RNA and stool for future unspecified research. Data are available upon request.

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Household Pet Ownership and the Microbial Diversity of the Human Gut Microbiota

Cited by 48 publications

References 38 publications

The shared risk of diabetes between dog and cat owners and their pets: register based cohort study

The shared risk of diabetes between dog and cat owners and their pets: register based cohort study

The Unique Impact of COVID-19 on Human Gut Microbiome Research

The Survey of the Health of Wisconsin (SHOW) Program: An infrastructure for Advancing Population Health Sciences

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