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Migration Spurs Changes in the Human Microbiome: a Review

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Abstract

International migration often results in major changes in living environments and lifestyles, and these changes may lead to the observed increases in obesity and diabetes among foreign-born people after resettling in higher-income countries. A possible mechanism linking changes in living environments to the onset of health conditions may be changes in the microbiome. Previous research has shown that unfavorable changes in the composition of the microbiome can increase disposition to diseases such as diabetes, obesity, kidney disease, and inflammatory bowel disease. We investigated the relationship between human migration and microbiome composition through a review using microbiome- and migration-related search terms in PubMed and Web of Science. We included articles examining the gut, oral, or oropharyngeal microbiome in people who migrated internationally. Nine articles met eligibility criteria. All but one examined migration from a non-Western to a Western country. Four of these found a difference in the microbiome of migrants compared with non-migrating residents of their country of birth, seven found differences in the microbiome of migrants compared with the native-born population in the country of resettlement, and five found microbiome differences associated with duration of stay in the country of resettlement. Microbiome composition varies with country of birth, age at migration, time since immigration, and country of resettlement. The results suggest that migration may lead to changes in the microbiome; thus, microbiome characteristics are a plausible pathway to examine changes in health after resettlement in a new country.

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This is a review of the literature with no primary or secondary data analysis. The information collected from across articles has been made available in the Appendix.

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to Shenita R. Peterson, Public Health Informationist at the Woodruff Health Sciences Center Library, for her contribution to the search and to Erica Barton for her preliminary investigations.

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health Grant R25 DK078381.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rice University, Houston, TX, USA

    Nayeli S. Shad

  2. Department of Nutrition, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Nida I. Shaikh

  3. Department of Global Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Solveig A. Cunningham

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  1. Nayeli S. Shad
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Data extraction was led by NSS. The first draft of the manuscript was written by NSS, and all authors contributed to writing of the final manuscript. All authors read and approved the submitted manuscript.

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Correspondence to Solveig A. Cunningham.

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Shad, N.S., Shaikh, N.I. & Cunningham, S.A. Migration Spurs Changes in the Human Microbiome: a Review. J. Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40615-023-01813-0

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