Common Gut Microbial Signatures in Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Stool samples from 113 children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 43 with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) revealed distinctive gut microbiota profiles.

• Clinical diagnosis, age, comorbidities, food sensitivities, and antibiotic use significantly affected gut microbiota composition.
• The control group had enriched common gut bacteria like Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, and Roseburia.
• Children with neurodevelopmental disorders exhibited greater variability in gut bacteria, with consistently increased levels of Bifidobacterium.
• A total of 4899 altered microbial metabolic functions were identified in children with ASD and ADHD.
• Gut microbial signatures effectively differentiated patients from healthy controls, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.95-0.98 in discovery and 0.69-0.74 in validation sets.
• ASD and ADHD share some gut microbial characteristics, but specific bacteria may have distinct metabolic functions contributing to each disorder.

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