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Targeting the gut microbiome: A brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in Qatar

Background: There has been a growing global interest in the role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of diseases and the potentials of targeting the microbiome in clinical interventions. Very few clinical studies in Qatar focused on gut microbiome. This study aimed to assess the awareness of healt...

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Autores principales: Bendriss, Ghizlane, Al-Ali, Dana, Shafiq, Ameena, Laswi, Ibrahim, Mhaimeed, Nada, Salameh, Mohammad, Burney, Zain, Pillai, Krishnadev, Chaari, Ali, Zakaria, Dalia, Yousri, Noha A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: HBKU Press 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7863707/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33598417
http://dx.doi.org/10.5339/qmj.2020.47
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author Bendriss, Ghizlane
Al-Ali, Dana
Shafiq, Ameena
Laswi, Ibrahim
Mhaimeed, Nada
Salameh, Mohammad
Burney, Zain
Pillai, Krishnadev
Chaari, Ali
Zakaria, Dalia
Yousri, Noha A.
author_facet Bendriss, Ghizlane
Al-Ali, Dana
Shafiq, Ameena
Laswi, Ibrahim
Mhaimeed, Nada
Salameh, Mohammad
Burney, Zain
Pillai, Krishnadev
Chaari, Ali
Zakaria, Dalia
Yousri, Noha A.
author_sort Bendriss, Ghizlane
collection PubMed
description Background: There has been a growing global interest in the role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of diseases and the potentials of targeting the microbiome in clinical interventions. Very few clinical studies in Qatar focused on gut microbiome. This study aimed to assess the awareness of healthcare professionals, scientists, and the general public on the role of gut microbiota in health and diseases and, more specifically, in disorders of the gut–brain axis such as neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) or gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. It also aimed to evaluate the readiness of the population to engage in clinical trials involving dietary interventions or fecal transplants. Methods: A total of 156 participants were recruited to answer questionnaires—from healthcare professionals and scientists (HSs; n = 44) and the general public (n = 112). Participants from the general public self-reported their diagnosis of NDDs—autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (n = 36)—or GI diseases or disorders (n = 18) or as having none of them (n = 58). Two questionnaires for HSs and for the general public were distributed, and basic descriptive and statistical analyses were conducted using the Fisher's exact test. Results: Among the participating HSs, 95% admitted that they had minimum to no knowledge on the role of gut microbes in health and diseases, and only 15.9% felt that their peers were knowledgeable about it. Nevertheless, 97.7% of HSs thought that gut microbiota should be considered when devising treatment plans as 79.1% believed that gut dysbiosis is involved in the pathogenesis of diseases. For the general public, 54% stated that they have read about studies on the potential benefits of microbes in the prevention, treatment, and management of diseases, with a higher proportion of them belonging to the GI group (p = 0.0523). The GI group was also more aware of the existence of the use of fecal transplants for treating their condition (p = 0.01935). Awareness was also reflected in participants’ attempts to engage in dietary changes, as 40% tried a dietary intervention, which has noticeably changed their or their child's symptoms. This study reported a highly significant association between being exposed to multiple antibiotic courses before three years of age and being part of the NDD group (p = 0.0003). Public readiness to engage in interventions that target the gut microbiome, such as intensive dietary interventions or even fecal transplants, was perceived by HSs to be lower than what was stated by the public, with 87.96% of public being ready to engage in intensive dietary interventions and 66.98% in fecal transplants. Conclusion: The study revealed that the role of gut microbes in health and diseases, and especially through the gut–brain axis, is still unclear in both the scientific community and general public. While acknowledging the importance of gut microbes, the lack of information regarding the link between lifestyle and gut microbes is considered to hold the public in the precontemplation/contemplation stages of the transtheoretical model of behavioral change. An interdisciplinary approach to new knowledge produced by microbiome studies is needed to run awareness campaigns and continue professional development activities on the benefits of lifestyle-based modulation of gut microbiome, thus engaging the general public in lifestyle changes and facilitating clinical research in human microbiome investigations in Qatar.
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spelling pubmed-78637072021-02-16 Targeting the gut microbiome: A brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in Qatar Bendriss, Ghizlane Al-Ali, Dana Shafiq, Ameena Laswi, Ibrahim Mhaimeed, Nada Salameh, Mohammad Burney, Zain Pillai, Krishnadev Chaari, Ali Zakaria, Dalia Yousri, Noha A. Qatar Med J Research Paper Background: There has been a growing global interest in the role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of diseases and the potentials of targeting the microbiome in clinical interventions. Very few clinical studies in Qatar focused on gut microbiome. This study aimed to assess the awareness of healthcare professionals, scientists, and the general public on the role of gut microbiota in health and diseases and, more specifically, in disorders of the gut–brain axis such as neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) or gastrointestinal (GI) disorders. It also aimed to evaluate the readiness of the population to engage in clinical trials involving dietary interventions or fecal transplants. Methods: A total of 156 participants were recruited to answer questionnaires—from healthcare professionals and scientists (HSs; n = 44) and the general public (n = 112). Participants from the general public self-reported their diagnosis of NDDs—autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (n = 36)—or GI diseases or disorders (n = 18) or as having none of them (n = 58). Two questionnaires for HSs and for the general public were distributed, and basic descriptive and statistical analyses were conducted using the Fisher's exact test. Results: Among the participating HSs, 95% admitted that they had minimum to no knowledge on the role of gut microbes in health and diseases, and only 15.9% felt that their peers were knowledgeable about it. Nevertheless, 97.7% of HSs thought that gut microbiota should be considered when devising treatment plans as 79.1% believed that gut dysbiosis is involved in the pathogenesis of diseases. For the general public, 54% stated that they have read about studies on the potential benefits of microbes in the prevention, treatment, and management of diseases, with a higher proportion of them belonging to the GI group (p = 0.0523). The GI group was also more aware of the existence of the use of fecal transplants for treating their condition (p = 0.01935). Awareness was also reflected in participants’ attempts to engage in dietary changes, as 40% tried a dietary intervention, which has noticeably changed their or their child's symptoms. This study reported a highly significant association between being exposed to multiple antibiotic courses before three years of age and being part of the NDD group (p = 0.0003). Public readiness to engage in interventions that target the gut microbiome, such as intensive dietary interventions or even fecal transplants, was perceived by HSs to be lower than what was stated by the public, with 87.96% of public being ready to engage in intensive dietary interventions and 66.98% in fecal transplants. Conclusion: The study revealed that the role of gut microbes in health and diseases, and especially through the gut–brain axis, is still unclear in both the scientific community and general public. While acknowledging the importance of gut microbes, the lack of information regarding the link between lifestyle and gut microbes is considered to hold the public in the precontemplation/contemplation stages of the transtheoretical model of behavioral change. An interdisciplinary approach to new knowledge produced by microbiome studies is needed to run awareness campaigns and continue professional development activities on the benefits of lifestyle-based modulation of gut microbiome, thus engaging the general public in lifestyle changes and facilitating clinical research in human microbiome investigations in Qatar. HBKU Press 2021-02-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7863707/ /pubmed/33598417 http://dx.doi.org/10.5339/qmj.2020.47 Text en © 2021 Bendriss, Al-Ali, Shafiq, Laswi, Mhaimeed, Salameh, Burney, Pillai, Chaari, Zakaria, Yousri, licensee HBKU Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research Paper
Bendriss, Ghizlane
Al-Ali, Dana
Shafiq, Ameena
Laswi, Ibrahim
Mhaimeed, Nada
Salameh, Mohammad
Burney, Zain
Pillai, Krishnadev
Chaari, Ali
Zakaria, Dalia
Yousri, Noha A.
Targeting the gut microbiome: A brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in Qatar
title Targeting the gut microbiome: A brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in Qatar
title_full Targeting the gut microbiome: A brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in Qatar
title_fullStr Targeting the gut microbiome: A brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in Qatar
title_full_unstemmed Targeting the gut microbiome: A brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in Qatar
title_short Targeting the gut microbiome: A brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in Qatar
title_sort targeting the gut microbiome: a brief report on the awareness, practice, and readiness to engage in clinical interventions in qatar
topic Research Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7863707/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33598417
http://dx.doi.org/10.5339/qmj.2020.47
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