Dysregulation of gut microbiota composition in individuals with personality disorders: A systemic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundAnxiety disorders are the most frequent mental comorbidity in people with functional GI difficulties, and abdominal discomfort is one of the most known physical signs of sadness. Successful top-down treatments using antidepressants and psychosocial therapies in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) further define personality illnesses as more than merely CNS disorders, but disorders with highly extensive systemic interconnections. Therefore, we recently conducted a systematic review of the observational literature comparing the gut microbiota composition of persons with personality difficulties with healthy control. MethodsThis review was written according to the guidelines established by Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). Not a single rule was broken, yet a more thorough search strategy did provide more relevant results. Pubmed, Scopus, Embase, Web of Science, Ovid, Global Health, PsycINFO, etc. were searched thoroughly using the phrases "gut microbiota, psychological disorders, personality disorders, composition, major depressive disorder, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia, etc." ResultsResearchers did discover widespread differences in the gut microbiota of patients and controls under each category of personality disorder. They also found that there are distinct bacterial taxa that had differing abundances in patients with these three psychiatric illnesses compared to healthy controls. They found a great deal of variation in study designs and reporting, such as in the inclusion and exclusion of study populations, sampling feces for study of gut microbiota; taking into account or adjusting for important factors known to impact gut microbiota composition; storing feces; processing feces; analyzing feces. ConclusionOur systematic review did find that psychological disorders appeared to exhibit different overall compositional differences compared to controls. There was a general trend toward the finding of increased abundances of bacteria involved in glutamate and GABA metabolism, and lower abundances of butyrate-producing bacteria in psychological disorders