Fecal microbiota characteristics of Chinese patients with chronic insomnia: a preliminary cross-sectional study

In Chinese adults, the prevalence of chronic insomnia is about 25%, however the underlying pathophysiological causes are poorly understood. There is preliminary evidence linking certain sleep disturbances to fecal microbiota.In order to assess the alterations in fecal microbiota structure, diversity, and metabolic function between patients with chronic insomnia and healthy controls, we investigated the features of fecal microbiota in 14 patients with chronic insomnia and 10 healthy controls using the 16S rDNA amplicon sequencing method. Our study revealed that the β-diversity of fecal microbiota in the chronic insomnia group exhibited significant alterations compared to the healthy control group (p < 0.05), whereas the α-diversity did not show a significant difference (p > 0.05). Notably, the abundances of Prevotella and Klebsiella, along with the activity of the linoleic acid metabolism pathway, were significantly altered in the chronic insomnia group (p < 0.05 for all). These findings suggest that patients with chronic insomnia disorders experience notable changes in the diversity, composition, and metabolic function of their fecal microbiota. We hypothesized that these differences, especially the altered levels of Prevotella and linoleic acid metabolism, may be related to the somatic hyper-arousal of insomnia.