Prematurity, health care outcomes and microbiomes

Guest Editors:
Rita C Silveira: Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
Joseph Ting: Univeristy of Alberta, Canada

Submission Status: Open | Submission Deadline: 22 October 2023

BMC Pediatrics is calling for submissions to our Collection on Prematurity, health care outcomes and microbiomes.

Preterm birth, defined as birth before 37 weeks' gestation, occurs in 10% of live births worldwide. Of those, 40% are thought to result from infection. In order to prevent preterm births, it is important to understand the role of the microbiome in regards to prematurity. In this context, the role of maternal and neonatal microbiome has been the objective of much research. There has been an increase in emerging evidence regarding the influence of microbiome and microbiota on health from early stages of life, yet there are still gaps in the understanding.

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Meet the Guest Editors

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Rita C Silveira: Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre/Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

Rita C Silveira is a Professor at the Faculty of Medicine Federal University Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, and a Neonatologist at Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre, Brazil. She operates in the area of teaching, research, and assistance, with a focus on the outcomes of high-risk births for vulnerabilities. She has experience in care, teaching and research in the area of Medicine, with an emphasis on Maternal and Child Health, working mainly on the following topics: newborn, prematurity, newborn, prematurity, follow-up, early stimulation and inflammatory mediators.

Joseph Ting: University of Alberta, Canada

Dr. Ting is an academic neonatologist and Associate Professor from University of Alberta in Canada. He has had a prolific research output throughout his clinical and research posts, contributing to >110 peer-reviewed publications and three book chapters. His main areas of research interest are in (1) neonatal infection & antimicrobial stewardship (2) neonatal haemodynamics & Targeted Neonatal Echocardiography and (3) childhood outcomes of at-risk infants.

About the collection

BMC Pediatrics is calling for submissions to our Collection on Prematurity, health care outcomes and microbiomes.

Preterm birth, defined as birth before 37 weeks' gestation, occurs in 10% of live births worldwide. Of those, 40% are thought to result from infection. In order to prevent preterm births, it is important to understand the role of the microbiome in regards to prematurity. In this context, the role of maternal and neonatal microbiome has been the objective of much research. There has been an increase in emerging evidence regarding the influence of microbiome and microbiota on health from early stages of life, yet there are still gaps in the understanding.

Within this collection at BMC Pediatrics, we are interested in attracting a wide range of submissions which focus on prematurity and the microbiome. We are interested in evidence pertaining to both maternal and neonatal microbiota as well as exploring the neurological outcomes associated with neonatal microbiota.

Role of the maternal microbiome in the context of prematurity - There has been much research about the maternal microbiome and pregnancy outcomes; this collection welcomes submissions relating to preterm birth outcomes.

Understanding the neurological outcomes associated with neonatal microbiota, including the brain-gut axis - the collection welcomes research relating to the bidirectional communication axis between the microbiota, the gut and the brain, especially in regards to neurodevelopment and health outcomes.

Opportunities for microbiome modulation in prematurity outcomes - as the microbiome changes significantly following birth, it has been frequently proposed that this is a vital time in which to modulate the early microbiota via probiotics, prebiotics and postbiotics in order to promote health. The collection welcomes submissions relating to microbiome modulation in association with prematurity outcomes.

Given that this is an important and rapidly growing field of research, BMC Pediatrics welcomes submissions that include primary research, review papers, and other studies contributing to the knowledge base of microbiome associated with prematurity, presenting evidence from cutting edge studies advancing our understanding of the maternal biome, neonatal microbiota and microbiome modulation.

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There are currently no articles in this collection.

Submission Guidelines

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This Collection welcomes submission of Research Articles. Before submitting your manuscript, please ensure you have read our submission guidelines. Articles for this Collection should be submitted via our submission system, Snapp. During the submission process you will be asked whether you are submitting to a Collection, please select "Microbiome and prematurity" from the dropdown menu.

Articles will undergo the journal’s standard peer-review process and are subject to all of the journal’s standard policies. Articles will be added to the Collection as they are published.

The Guest Editors have no competing interests with the submissions which they handle through the peer review process. The peer review of any submissions for which the Guest Editors have competing interests is handled by another Editorial Board Member who has no competing interests.