The Presence of Cotinine at 3 months of Age is Associated with Decreased Microbial Diversity of the Upper Airway

Disruption to the upper airway microbiome is associated with asthma development, as evidenced by studies that show that airway colonization with Moraxella catarrhalis, Hemophilus influenzae, and Streptococcal pneumoniae increases the risk of childhood wheeze. It is suggested that smoke exposure decreases airway microbiome diversity in adults, but little has been described regarding the impact of smoke exposure on the infant microbiome. We hypothesized that early life environmental smoke exposure is associated with decreased bacterial diversity in the infant upper airway microbiome.