Impact of cigarette smoking on gut microbial dysbiosis: a structured literature review

Abstract

The gut microbiota comprises microorganisms in the human gastrointestinal tract.Lifestyle choices like smoking lead to gut dysbiosis. This review assessed the effect of cigarette smoke on gut microbial dysbiosis in active smokers compared to nonsmokers, as well as the resulting public health implications. A comprehensive search was conducted using the Cumulative Index for Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL), Medline, and PubMed. The search result was reported following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) 2020 guidelines. The CASP (Critical Appraisal Skills Programme) tool was used to evaluate the recruited studies. There were 468 articles found, with 17 of them qualifying for fulltext screening. Five of these studies were included in the review. Smoke harmed gut microbe proportions; smokers had more Bacteroidetes and less Firmicutes than nonsmokers, affecting their Firmicutes/Bacteroidetes ratio. This has significant public health implications. Organisms enriched in the smokers such as Bacteroidales