Abstract
Previous studies have reported dysbiosis in the gut microbiota (GM) of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which may be a determining factor on child development through the microbiota-gut-brain axis. However, it is not clear if there is a specific group of dysbiotic bacteria in ASD. The aim of this study was to carry out a meta-analysis on the studies that analyze GM in children with ASD. 18 studies fulfilled our selection criteria. Our results showed a lower relative abundance of Streptococcus (SMD+ = − 0.999; 95% CI − 1.549, − 0.449) and Bifidobacterium genera (SMD+ = − 0.513; 95% CI − 0.953, − 0.073) in children with ASD. Overall, the Bifidobacterium genera is involved. However, differences found between studies are attributed to factors such as reporting bias.
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The authors would like to thank Ms. Seonaid McNabb for her English revision.
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PAM and AEMG conceived and designed the systematic review, selected and coded the articles, created a database of the identified bacteria, created the article quality database and performed the risk of bias analysis. MRA created the database of selected moderators and bacteria and performed data analysis. AV performed the risk of bias analysis. JSM performed data analysis. PAM, AEMG and MRA wrote the manuscript. JSM and AV edited the manuscript and all the authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
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Andreo-Martínez, P., Rubio-Aparicio, M., Sánchez-Meca, J. et al. A Meta-analysis of Gut Microbiota in Children with Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 1374–1387 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05002-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05002-y