Overview
- The registry-linked study of 14,979 adults matched stool microbiome profiles to up to eight years of national prescription records to measure drug-specific impacts.
- Clindamycin use in the prior year was associated with an average of 47 fewer detected species, while fluoroquinolones and flucloxacillin each corresponded to about 20 fewer species.
- Microbial diversity recovered fastest within two years after exposure but often remained below levels seen in people without antibiotic use even four to eight years later.
- The three antibiotics were tied to higher abundance of bacterial species previously linked to poorer cardiometabolic markers, though the study did not establish causation.
- Researchers cautioned against avoiding necessary treatment and highlighted the unexpectedly strong flucloxacillin signal as a finding that warrants confirmation, with new follow-up sampling underway.