Oral Microbiome Diversity Between Patients With Normal Versus Elevated Salivary Pepsin Levels and Its Implication in Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease

Abstract

This pilot study aimed to assess oral microbiome diversity between patients with and without elevated salivary pepsin concentrations. Over 9 months, 85 enrolled subjects (73 symptomatic patients; 12 asymptomatic volunteers) provided salivary samples off acid suppression. Subjects with elevated pepsin (≥25 ng/mL) had significantly greater Shannon entropy diversity compared to subjects with normal pepsin (<25 ng/mL) on 16S rRNA sequencing (P = .015), indicating increased oral microbiome biodiversity in patients with elevated salivary pepsin. Repeated gastro-esophageal reflux events from the stomach to the oral cavity may contribute to this observed change in oral microbiome diversity with potential implications in symptom generation and/or therapy.