Microorganisms
on the tongue could help diagnose heart failure, according to research
presented today on HFA Discoveries, a scientific platform of the European
Society of Cardiology (ESC).1
Previous
research has shown that microorganisms in the tongue coating could distinguish
patients with pancreatic cancer from healthy people.
This
study investigated the composition of the tongue microbiome in participants
with and without chronic heart failure. The study enrolled 42 patients in
hospital with chronic heart failure and 28 healthy controls. None of the
participants had oral, tongue or dental diseases, had suffered an upper
respiratory tract infection in the past week, had used antibiotics and
immunosuppressants in the past week, or were pregnant or lactating.
Stainless
steel spoons were used to take samples of the tongue coating in the morning,
before participants had brushed their teeth or eaten breakfast. A technique
called 16S rRNA gene sequencing was used to identify bacteria in the samples.
The
researchers found that heart failure patients shared the same types of
microorganisms in their tongue coating. Healthy people also shared the same microbes.
There was no overlap in bacterial content between the two groups.
At
the genus level, five categories of bacteria distinguished heart failure
patients from healthy people with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.84 (where
1.0 is a 100% accurate prediction and 0.5 is a random finding).
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle, Pharmaceutical Microbiology Resources (http://www.pharmamicroresources.com/)
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