Characteristics of intestinal flora in the elderly patients with coronary heart disease versus coronary heart disease-complicated heart failure

Abstract

Objective To investigate characteristics of intestinal flora in elderly patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) versus CHD plus complicated heart failure (HF). Methods The 80 CHD patients admitted into our hospital from April 2017 to April 2018 were consecutively enrolled in this prospective study.They were divided into the CHD group (without HF, n=40) and the HF group (CHD plus HF, n=40), and 40 healthy elderly people taking health examination during the same period were considered as the control group.The 0.5 g stool specimen from each observer was collected.The specific DNA fragments of 16S rDNA/18S rDNA/ITS/ function genes were amplified, the Polymerase Chain reaction(PCR)amplified products were sequenced by Illumina Genome Analyzer IIx.And the sequencing results were followed by Read splicing, OTU clustering, alpha diversity analysis and species diversity analysis.Finally, the sample species information was obtained. Results The mean abundances of gut microflora in CHD group and in HF group were lower than in control group (P<0.05). The abundance of phylum bacteroidetes was higher in the control group (66.41±3.25)% than in the CHD group (45.21±9.07)% and in HF groups (27.29±13.27)%(P<0.05). And the abundance of phylum firmicutes was lower in the control group than in the CHD and HF groups (P<0.05). LEfSe analysis showed that the flora with high abundances in the healthy elderly group were mainly Bacteroides, Bacteroidia and Bacteroidales.Ruminococcus and Clostridium occurred mainly in the CHD group, and Firmicutes and Enterobacte occurred mainly in CHD plus heart failure group. Conclusions The intestinal flora disturbance occurs in elderly patients with coronary heart disease or CHD with heart failure. Key words: Coronary artery disease; Heart failure; Bacteria; Gastrointestinal tract