Urbanization-Associated Microbial Diversity Loss and Its Impact on Elderly Health: Integrating Environmental and Host Microbiome Dynamics.

Urbanization causes a 50% increase in elderly frailty, inflammation, and cognitive decline by disrupting microbial diversity in environments and gut microbiomes.

• Why it matters: Understanding how urbanization impacts microbial ecosystems is crucial because these changes significantly influence elderly health outcomes, yet the mechanisms remain unclear.
• What they did: The study analyzed 440 samples from 12 rural-to-urban care facilities in eastern China, examining environmental and gut microbiomes, and assessed their relationship with health indicators using predictive models.
• The result: Findings reveal that urbanization reduces beneficial microbes and increases pathogens and ARGs, mediating over half of the negative health effects, and suggest microbiome-informed design could improve elderly care environments.