Integrating early-life gut microbiota with maternal–infant clinical data to classify mild head-circumference restriction at one month
5 affiliations
- 1Department of Child Healthcare, Shenzhen Baoan Women’s and Children’s Hospital
- 2Department of Obstetrics, Shenzhen Baoan Women’s and Children’s Hospital
- 3Department of Biobank, Shenzhen Baoan Women’s and Children’s Hospital
- 4Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health (Shenzhen), Sun Yat-Sen University
- 5Department of Nutrition and Food Hygiene, School of Public Health, Peking University
Abstract
Early head circumference is a vital proxy for neurodevelopment. We investigated whether the one-month gut microbiome adds predictive value to clinical factors for mild growth restriction. We analyzed anthropometry and stool 16S rRNA gene sequencing from 161 mother–infant dyads in a prospective cohort. Four machine-learning models classified mild restriction (Z-score < −1) using clinical and genus-level microbiome features, evaluated via repeated stratified cross-validation to assess incremental predictive value. Restricted infants (n = 14) exhibited lower microbial richness, reduced Bifidobacterium, and taxonomic shifts. Clinical-only LightGBM achieved the highest AUC overall (0.808), whereas microbiome-only models showed weaker discrimination (AUC 0.432–0.636). A small, non-significant AUC increase was observed for elastic-net logistic regression after microbiome features were added (0.761 → 0.802, 95% CI including zero). The other three learners showed lower combined-model AUCs, including a significant decrease for LightGBM; none of the four paired comparisons showed a statistically significant improvement. Mild head-circumference restriction at one month was associated with lower microbial richness and altered gut ecology. Although clinical anthropometry provided the strongest classification signal in this cohort, the concurrent richness association is biologically plausible and supports continued investigation of the early-life microbiome as a candidate contributor to growth restriction in larger, prospectively sampled cohorts.
Related
- Maternal Angiogenic Profiles in Preeclampsia-Associated Versus Isolated Fetal Growth Restriction or Small-for-Gestational-Age Pregnancies: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
- Gut Microbiota, Microbial Metabolites, and Growth Trajectories in Fetal Growth Restriction and Small for Gestational Age Infants: A Structured Narrative Review of the First 1000 Days
- The role of maternal gut microbiota in prenatal depression and offspring neurodevelopment.
- Integrating host-microbiota metabolic networks: how aromatic amino acids shape immune homeostasis and affect disease progression
- Maternal microbiota shapes brain and neuroendocrine development in piglets
BibTeX
@article{chen2026integrating,
title = {{Integrating early-life gut microbiota with maternal–infant clinical data to classify mild head-circumference restriction at one month}},
author = {Manting Chen and Meiqun Xiao and Meiying Lu and Dongyan Zhu and Ying Liao and QingQing Xiang and Tao Zhou and Mengying Wang and Liya Ma and Qiying Song},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1038/s41598-026-68084-7},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-68084-7},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Integrating early-life gut microbiota with maternal–infant clinical data to classify mild head-circumference restriction at one month
AU - Manting Chen
AU - Meiqun Xiao
AU - Meiying Lu
AU - Dongyan Zhu
AU - Ying Liao
AU - QingQing Xiang
AU - Tao Zhou
AU - Mengying Wang
AU - Liya Ma
AU - Qiying Song
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/01
JO - Scientific Reports
DO - 10.1038/s41598-026-68084-7
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-68084-7
AB - Early head circumference is a vital proxy for neurodevelopment. We investigated whether the one-month gut microbiome adds predictive value to clinical factors for mild growth restriction. We analyzed anthropometry and stool 16S rRNA gene sequencing from 161 mother–infant dyads in a prospective cohort. Four machine-learning models classified mild restriction (Z-score < −1) using clinical and genus-level microbiome features, evaluated via repeated stratified cross-validation to assess incremental predictive value. Restricted infants (n = 14) exhibited lower microbial richness, reduced Bifidobacterium, and taxonomic shifts. Clinical-only LightGBM achieved the highest AUC overall (0.808), whereas microbiome-only models showed weaker discrimination (AUC 0.432–0.636). A small, non-significant AUC increase was observed for elastic-net logistic regression after microbiome features were added (0.761 → 0.802, 95% CI including zero). The other three learners showed lower combined-model AUCs, including a significant decrease for LightGBM; none of the four paired comparisons showed a statistically significant improvement. Mild head-circumference restriction at one month was associated with lower microbial richness and altered gut ecology. Although clinical anthropometry provided the strongest classification signal in this cohort, the concurrent richness association is biologically plausible and supports continued investigation of the early-life microbiome as a candidate contributor to growth restriction in larger, prospectively sampled cohorts.
SN - 2045-2322
ER -