Association between extrauterine growth restriction and changes of intestinal flora in Chinese preterm infants

The aim of the study was to investigate any association between extrauterine growth restriction (EUGR) and intestinal flora of n =23) and non-EUGR ( n =36) groups. Intestinal bacteria were compared by using high-throughput sequencing of bacterial rRNA. The total abundance of bacteria in 344 genera (7568 v. 13,760; P v. 18,240; P Streptococcus parasanguinis , Bacterium RB5FF6, two Klebsiella species and Microbacterium ), but decreased frequencies of three species (one Acinetobacter species, Endosymbiont _of_ Sphenophorus_lev and one Enterobacter _species) compared with the non-EUGR group. Taken together, there were significant changes in the intestinal microflora of preterm infants with EUGR compared to preterm infants without EUGR.