Fecal Microbiome Metabolites Foretell ICU Mortality

An imbalance in gut microbes revealed in a stool sample predicts the short-term risk of death in critically ill patients, researchers report.

The team created a metabolic dysbiosis score (MDS) from fecal concentrations of more than a dozen microbiota-derived metabolites that predicted mortality at 30 days among patients at a medical intensive care unit (MICU).

Reporting in the journal Science Advances , the investigators suggest that fecal metabolite dysbiosis and the metabolites identified in the MDS could therefore represent potential candidates—or treatable traits—to improve the survival of these patients.

This treatment could come in the form of dietary intervention using prebiotics, through the provision of bacterial consortia in the form of probiotics, or by direct oral admini